The One In Which Rachel and Blaine Are Siblings
by ohsimplething
Summary: As the title suggests, Rachel and Blaine are siblings. Blaine is a year older and in his first year of college. He seems to view Kurt as more than just his little sister's best friend and Kurt feels the same.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Yep, jumping on the bandwagon and writing Anderberry Klaine! **

**So as soon as I saw this idea of Rachel and Blaine being siblings on tumblr I instantly fell in love with it and just had to write my own fic of it. So here's the first chapter. It didn't quite turn out how I originally intended but oh well, review and let me know if you want me to keep going :)**

**Enjoy :)**

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><p>Fridays were the worst. Sure, it meant the weekend was almost here, yet it was dangled in front of you, just out of reach, refusing to come until another day of school was suffered through.<p>

Kurt had another reason to hate Fridays. They meant Biology, his worst subject, and one that Azimio just happened to be in. Each lesson Kurt would be forced to hear the slurs, the insults sneered loud enough to reach Kurt's ears but not the teacher's.

Today was no different and Kurt left Biology in a rotten mood, just wishing for the day to be over. But then he remembered the sleepover at Rachel's tonight and his mood instantly brightened. A girl's night was just what he needed.

After school Kurt walked to his car, arm in arm with Mercedes, discussing a certain blonde footballer who had recently been paying Mercedes a lot of attention.

"He doesn't like me," Mercedes said for what had to be the dozenth time that afternoon alone.

Shaking his head, Kurt released his arm from Mercedes' and unlocked his car door. "Oh, c'mon, did you not see the way he looked at you at lunch? You could see the _longing_ in his eyes."

Mercedes just rolled her eyes. "Right."

Kurt sighed. "I'm not finished talking to you about this," he said as Mercedes began to cross the parking lot to reach her own car.

"Yeah yeah, I'll see you tonight," she hollered over her shoulder.

Suddenly Rachel was by Kurt's side, practically bouncing with excitement. "6 o'clock at mine!" Rachel called to Mercedes, turning back to Kurt who was clutching his heart at her unexpected appearance.

"You have to stop doing that," he warned her and Rachel just grinned.

"See you tonight," she sang before skipping off.

Kurt got into his car, relieved to be free of Rachel's excessive keenness. He loved her, but he also wanted to strangle her.

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><p>Pillows, blankets and sleeping bags were strewn across the floor of Rachel's living room. Lollies littered the ground and a half-finished block of chocolate sat on the table next to the abandoned packet of chips and empty pizza boxes.<p>

Kurt regretted every bit of junk food he had consumed that night, knowing his skin would suffer as a punishment. He kept touching his face to make sure he hadn't broken out already and each time Kurt did so Rachel would yell at him and Mercedes would slap his hand away before offering him more chocolate.

It was their monthly sleepover; Kurt's skin could deal for one night.

"What's next in our musical marathon?" Rachel asked excitedly, putting away her DVD of _West Side Story _and searching through a cabinet that Kurt knew contained just about every musical in existence.

"Do you even need to ask?" Kurt replied, rejecting the chocolate that Mercedes kept offering him.

"Boy, just eat!" Mercedes insisted, giving up and hurling a few pieces at Kurt who shrieked in protest and threw them right back.

Rachel watched on with an expression far from amusement. "Guys!" she yelled, snapping her fingers to get their attention. "What movie?"

"Doe, a deer, a female deer," Kurt began to sing.

Mercedes grinned and joined in. "Ray, a drop of golden sun. Me, a name I call myself. Far, a long long way to run."

"Sew, a needle pulling thread," Rachel sang, a jubilant smile on her face, "La, a note to follow so-."

"Tea, a drink with jam and bread?" A voice asked, amusement thick in their tone.

Rachel spun around and narrowed her eyes when she saw who was standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Blaine. Bye, Blaine," Rachel deadpanned, shooting her brother an evil stare.

Blaine simply laughed at her. "Take it easy, Rach. I'm just saying hi," and with that Blaine sauntered into the room and slumped into an armchair.

Kurt couldn't help the way his eyes followed Blaine's every move.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Sure, just make yourself comfortable." Sarcasm dripped from her voice as she continued staring at Blaine, waiting for him to leave. He did no such thing, of course, but instead turned to Kurt.

"Hi, Kurt," Blaine offered him a smile, "How are you?"

Kurt's gaze met Blaine's and he tried not to swoon. God, Rachel's brother was attractive.

"Uh, good thanks and you?" Kurt tried his best to come across nonchalant which proved difficult as his high, squeaky voice always gave away when he was nervous or excited. And Blaine directly addressing him? Yeah, that made him both of those things.

Blaine grinned again, looking as if finding out that Kurt was good brought him great happiness. "I'm fantastic."

Mercedes then coughed loudly and Blaine spun to face her direction. His voice instantly became decidedly less interested as he greeted her. "Hi, Mercedes."

She smiled sweetly at Blaine but her voice matched his disinterested tone. "Hi Blaine."

Rachel clapped her hands once, catching her brother's attention before saying, "Great, you've said hi, now you can kindly leave."

Totally ignoring Rachel, Blaine crossed one leg over the other and made himself more comfortable. "So, what are we watching?" The question was phrased to the whole group but Blaine made it seem as if he was only asking Kurt.

Just as Kurt opened his mouth to answer, Rachel butted in.

"_We're_," she gestured between her and Blaine, "Not watching anything. However _we,_" she pointed to herself, Kurt and Mercedes, "Are watching 'Sound of Music.' Now leave."

Rachel's rudeness didn't put a dampener on Blaine's mood and instead of getting up to go, he just grinned at her. "Excellent. A personal favourite."

Once again, Rachel narrowed her eyes at her brother. "And since when do you like 'Sound of Music'?" she asked haughtily, crossing one arm over the other.

Blaine shrugged. "Since always. I am majoring in music, remember?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Right, of course, because that instantly means your preference in movies changes."

Blaine nodded, grinning triumphantly as he snaked a hand out to steal some chocolate from the table. "Isn't there some guy in it called Kurt?" As he said this, Blaine's eyes quickly flickered to Kurt's and he grinned before turning back to his sister.

Kurt couldn't help his heart beat accelerating and ugh, he hated Blaine. He so knew what he was doing to Kurt and Kurt hated him for it.

"Yes, yes there is," Rachel replied, shocked that her brother had remembered even a character's name from the movie he'd refused to watch with her just weeks ago.

"How funny that that's all you remember from the movie," Mercedes said in a tone that implied she didn't find it funny at all.

"It's a pretty great name," Blaine replied, nudging Kurt who just silently smiled.

Sighing exaggeratedly, Rachel stood up and attempted to pull Blaine from the couch. "Right, enough shameless flirting with my best friend and get the hell out!" Her expression was exasperated and Blaine just laughed in her face as he stood up.

"Right, whatever. Later hobbit, Mercedes," Blaine paused to flash a dazzling smile in Kurt's direction. "Kurt."

And with that, Blaine left the room.

There were a few rare moments of silence between the three before Rachel broke it. "I cannot believe how in love Blaine is with you," she said, settling into her sleeping bag and beginning the movie.

They'd always joked about Blaine showing interest in Kurt but today he was laying it on thick. Not that Kurt minded, of course. However he refused to admit that he liked the attention, he refused to even admit he was _receiving _attention from Blaine. Because guys like that didn't go for guys like Kurt.

Blaine was, well, perfect. A little on the snarky side but it's not like Kurt could talk. The stupid jokes Blaine cracked were always funny and his laugh to accompany them was easily Kurt's favourite sound in the whole world. Those cute curls that Blaine gelled down way too often had been free today, making him appear even more gorgeous. And that smile. God, when Blaine smiled it lit up his entire face and it was like everything was right in the world.

Basically, Kurt was crushing on Rachel's brother. And had been for the past six months. Ever since the first time Kurt had visited the Berry household Blaine had treated him like he was more than just his little sister's best friend. The flirting had started up a few visits after that but Rachel had insisted that Blaine was just like that. Apparently he was flirty and charming with everyone. This had instantly caused Kurt's stomach to sink in disappointment. He'd stupidly thought Blaine liked him. However a few months later Blaine's interest had piqued, to the point where even Rachel couldn't deny his clear fascination with Kurt.

And this was something Rachel was very clearly against. She'd verbalised her opinion on it many times, complaining about how she'd wish Blaine would just leave Kurt alone.

Kurt wanted no such thing.

Back in the present, Kurt rolled his eyes. "He's not in love with me, don't be ridiculous." But Kurt's heart leapt at the knowledge that other people thought Blaine actually liked him.

It was then Mercedes' turn to roll her eyes. "Puh-lease, he's practically named your future kids."

Instantly images filled Kurt's mind of him and Blaine sitting side by side, cradling a beautiful baby girl. _Their beautiful baby girl._ Kurt's eyes would light up each time he even looked at Elizabeth and his heart would feel so full that is just might burst. Blaine would look at him with adoring eyes and smile.

"She's ours," he'd say and Kurt would smile too before bringing their lips together in a sweet kiss-

"Ooh, we could be brother-and-sister-in-law," Rachel squealed excitedly, forcing Kurt out of his thoughts and missing the blank look he threw her.

"Well you've certainly changed your turn," Kurt noted, glad that Rachel had brought him back to earth but strangely sad his fantasy had ended. "What happened to being totally against this?"  
>Rachel shrugged as she reached for more chocolate. "He's a jerk but you guys'd be so cute."<p>

_Yeah, we would. _

Kurt shook his head, trying to erase that thought. No, Blaine is _Rachel's brother_, therefore completely off-limits. Then again, she did sound pretty pro them getting together.

_No_.

"Wait," Kurt held up his hand to silence Mercedes' and Rachel's chatter. "Who said I liked Blaine?"

Both girls stared at Kurt with a look that said '_are you serious?_'

Kurt ignored them and continued. "As much as it would be simply joyous," _sarcasm _"to be related to you, Rachel, I never agreed to this 'marriage'."

"Oh, give it up," Mercedes enunciated each word, "You're just as interested as Blaine."

Kurt began to argue but Mercedes cut him off. "You're admittedly less forward but equally head over heels for him."

Kurt gave Mercedes a look, telling her to shut her mouth right now or else. It had clearly been a huge mistake to tell her how hot Kurt found Blaine a few months back. Rachel caught the look exchanged and sighed.

"Kurt, I know how you feel about him and I don't care."

Rachel's eyes sought out Kurt's and she silently begged for him to understand. The last thing Rachel wanted was for Kurt to think she was mad at him for something he couldn't control.

Kurt stayed silent, refusing to admit he liked Blaine in any way other than as his best friend's older brother.

Rachel sighed. "I'm sorry but the way you look at him, it's kinda obvious." She knew how stubborn Kurt could be; there was no way he would confess his feelings unless forced to.

Kurt's eyes widened at Rachel's words. Was he really that transparent? God, what if Blaine knew too. A faint blush began to creep up Kurt's cheeks just at the thought that Blaine knew the extent of his feelings for him.

As much as he wanted to deny what Rachel had said, Kurt instead found himself demanding, "Does Blaine know?" He sounded desperate and he knew this, but what did it matter. This was important!

Rachel shrugged. "Probably. But that's a good thing. I mean he's very clearly interested too if the way he talks to you is any indication..."

"But that's what he does!" Kurt objected, his voice rising in volume without him realising. "You told me that. _You _said he flirts with everyone. So that's all this is, he doesn't think of me as anything but your stupid friend who blushes way too much and-"

"Sweetie, you don't have to be so defensive," Mercedes cooed, patting him on the knee before pulling him towards her. Kurt tumbled off the sofa he was lying on and fell in a heap on the ground. They laughed for a straight minute before Kurt rearranged himself and lay his head next to Mercedes'.

"Can we please not talk about this?" Kurt begged before fixing his gaze on Mercedes. "I believe there was an unfinished discussion about a Mr. Sam Evans."

"Ooh, did you catch him staring at Mercedes again?" Rachel piped up excitedly whilst Mercedes put her head in her hands.

Kurt nodded and began telling Rachel about their encounter at lunch.

And just like that the conversation was diverted away from Blaine. If only Kurt could get him out of his mind too.

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><p>Kurt had always been an early riser since putting his daily morning moisturising routine in place. It meant that the amount of sleep he got at sleepovers was pretty much nonexistent but this was his <em>skin<em>. And just about nothing, not even sleep, took precedence over that.

Kurt found himself sitting at the Berry's kitchen table, newest edition of _Vogue_ in hand at eight o'clock the next morning. He'd just completed his moisturising and now began the wait for one of the girls to resurface. Unfortunately neither were morning people so this often took hours.

A half hour later Kurt heard footsteps seconds before Blaine waltzed into the kitchen, clad in only boxers with messy bed-hair to add to his dishevelled appearance.

Kurt's eyes instinctively raked up Blaine's body, focusing on his bare chest and toned stomach. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Considering Blaine slept half-naked, they'd had a few encounters in the morning like this before. Of course there had also been that time that Kurt went to the beach with Rachel's family. Blaine shirtless and dripping wet, water glistening on his skin in the afternoon sun had been an image Kurt had found hard to get out of his head.

Blaine looked flushed and slightly uncomfortable as he noticed Kurt sitting at the kitchen table for the first time. He caught Kurt's gaze and instead of making a lewd comment about Kurt _liking what he saw, _he simply turned away from him.

"Just grabbing a glass of water," Blaine explained, taking a sip of his now filled glass, back still turned. "Ah, I'll be going now," he said awkwardly, beginning to walk out of the kitchen. He peered back once at Kurt, sitting by himself, looking a little embarrassed but offering Blaine a genuine smile nonetheless. Something stopped Blaine in his tracks and instead of leaving, he turned back, an arm covering his stomach self-consciously, and asked Kurt, "Mercedes isn't an early riser, is she?"

Kurt shook his head. "She's worse than Rachel."

Wow, that meant Kurt was in for at least another two hours of lonesomeness.

There was a pause, a split-second decision and then - "Do you maybe want some company?" The words tumbled out of Blaine's mouth, surprising both Kurt and himself.

Taken aback by Blaine's offer, Kurt stuttered out an inaudible reply before lifting his magazine and shaking it to show Blaine he was fine reading.

Blaine chuckled, shaking his head. "You actually enjoy those?"

Kurt looked offended at the suggestion that he wouldn't. "Of course!"

Blaine laughed again, gesturing to Kurt's designer pyjamas. "Would you like to fit the stereotype any more?"

Blushing lightly at the first mention of his sexuality around Blaine, Kurt grinned. "I hate sports, musical theatre is my life, nothing is more important than fashion, and Patti LuPone is my idol."

Setting his glass down on the table, Blaine laughed at this. He went to sit down before remembering his attire, or lack thereof. "Uh, let me put on a shirt and then I'll tell you all the ways in which I _break _the stereotype."

With that, Blaine dashed off to his room leaving Kurt intrigued. It was literally a moment later that Blaine was back, taking a seat across from Kurt. He'd obviously grabbed the first shirt he could get his hands on before throwing it over his head and rushing back. Kurt hid a smile at the fact that Blaine was eager to talk to him.

"So, do tell." Kurt placed his magazine facedown on the table and nodded for Blaine to continue their conversation.

"Well," Blaine began, thinking of all the things that led people to mistake him as straight. "I hardly dress well. Comfort before style always."

This comment caused Kurt's face to contort with horror and he shuddered before simply saying "No."

Easy laughter bubbled out of Blaine at Kurt's reaction. _Man, he's cute. _

Blaine's eyes flickered to Kurt's and he found himself almost drowned in the impossible beauty of their colour. Once Kurt realised Blaine was staring at him, the most adorable blush started to rise on his cheeks.

Blaine dragged his eyes away from Kurt's angelic face and coughed once to dispel the awkwardness before continuing.

"Football is something I love."

Kurt screwed up his nose and Blaine chuckled once more.

"It's really not that bad. I promise. Have you ever seen a full game?"

Kurt nodded. "My step-brother plays and both he and my Dad love it so you can guess what I'm often subjected to."

The clear disdain in Kurt's tone caused Blaine to bite back another laugh. He'd never realised how funny Kurt was.

"Well it's really fun to play," Blaine told him fondly, thinking of the last game he'd played where they'd won by a huge margin.

Kurt shrugged. "I didn't enjoy it that much."

Arching an eyebrow, Blaine unconsciously leant forward in interest. "You've played?" He struggled to imagine Kurt on the field.

Kurt nodded. "I was the kicker for a little bit in my sophomore year." Blaine raised his eyebrows and Kurt smiled. "I was a lot smaller back then," he explained, "The perfect build for a kicker, I believe."

Blaine nodded, still finding it hard to picture the tall boy with legs that went on for miles as little enough to be a kicker.

"Sophomore year was kinda the year I decided to become avidly involved in extra-curricula's," Kurt continued, pausing to think back to two years before. "I joined Glee Club that year too. And the cheerios."

Blaine gave Kurt a blank look.

"Cheerleading squad," Kurt explained and Blaine held back a laugh.

"Stereotype," he muttered, catching Kurt's eyes, which danced with laughter.

"Rach told me you were in Glee Club too," Kurt shot back, "So you don't exactly break the stereotype in every way either."

"That's true," Blaine agreed, clasping his hands together as favourable memories of the Warblers filled his mind. He really missed them. It was one thing Blaine hated about college, it had meant leaving Dalton and he didn't get to see his friends anywhere near as often as he'd like.

"I lead them," Blaine said proudly, sticking his chest out and grinning.

"And the arrogance is back," Kurt teased with a grin. "Did you actually lead them? Or did you just like to think you did? Because Rachel has it in her mind that she leads our Glee Club when nothing could be further from the truth." Kurt paused to consider this. "It must be a genetic flaw."

Just since starting this conversation, Kurt had grown more confident with Blaine and felt himself slipping into his bitchy self, not skimping on the teasing remarks. Blaine seemed to find his taunts amusing and Kurt felt his heart swell each time he made Blaine laugh.

"It's a shame they had that 'family members can't compete' rule," Kurt continued, "I would've liked to see how the Dalton Academy Warblers," he spoke the name with an air of importance, "Faired against the New Directions."

"That's easy," Blaine said instantly, "We would've kicked your asses."

Kurt smirked. "Don't be so sure, New Directions did contain me."

Blaine grinned at Kurt's self-assurance. "Well there is one way to settle this: Diva-off."

Instantly and without shame, Blaine launched into the opening lines of Teenage Dream, a cheesy grin plastered to his face all the while. Blaine hadn't exaggerated his talent, he was actually _really good_. So good that it almost pained Kurt to shush him moments later.

"The girls are still asleep."

Blaine sighed. "Yeah, Rachel does need her sleep otherwise she goes even more ape-shit at me over nothing."

Kurt didn't know how to respond to that. He was torn between telling Blaine off for insulting his sister and joining in the complaining.

"What's the stupidest thing Rachel has ever done?" Blaine asked suddenly, very interested in Kurt's answer.

Kurt was surprised at how blunt Blaine was about his dislike for Rachel and tried to keep this shock off his face. "Okay, that's not nice, she's not_ that_ bad," Kurt insisted. Blaine's attitude towards his sister was so similar to how Kurt felt about Rachel when he first met her. And then he remembered something. "Wait, I got one!"

Blaine laughed at Kurt's sudden change of heart and leaned forward eagerly, waiting to hear what Kurt had to say.

"One time she asked me to start a gay-les-ball with her," Kurt told Blaine, amusement thick in his voice.

Blaine stared back at him, eyes wide. "Are you serious?" Kurt nodded and Blaine burst out laughing. "But why? I mean, she's straight. Someone in this family has to be."

Kurt chuckled at Blaine's comment before explaining. "So she could break the record for most amount of photos in the yearbook."

Blaine laughed. "God, that sounds like her." It was the only time Kurt had heard Blaine sound fond of his sister and it made Kurt smile.

"You're different like this," Kurt noted, holding Blaine's gaze.

Blaine cocked his head to the side in a way Kurt found ridiculously adorable. "Like what?"

"Without Rachel around." Kurt smiled. "You're kinder."

Instantly Blaine switched back to being the obnoxious guy that Kurt knew well. "Well, there's no point in being nice to _her_." Blaine paused for dramatic effect. "She's the devil."

Kurt sighed. And there goes that lovely guy Kurt thought he'd managed to uncover. "You know, it's not cool."

Blaine's eyebrows furrowed. "What's not cool?"

"The douchebag older brother image," Kurt replied, enjoying the shocked expression on Blaine's face at his bold words. "The insults don't impress me."

Immediately Blaine recovered and became cocky. "So things I do impress you?"

Kurt realised his mistake and rolled his eyes. "Possibly," he replied coolly, "But you being a jerk is not one of them."

Blaine had to admit, he liked Kurt's sass. It was yet another trait to add to the list of things Blaine found so very appealing about Kurt.

Their conversation continued with very few breaks until an hour and a half later when Rachel joined them in the kitchen, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

Blaine fought the urge to make a teasing comment about her having missed both breakfast and lunch. _It doesn't impress Kurt, _he reminded himself.

"God, Kurt, this always happens, I'm sorry," Rachel apologised hurriedly, rushing to Kurt's side. She seemed to think that being physically closer to Kurt would make him accept her apology sooner. "I know you're an early riser but I'm so not and you were stuck with _Blaine_ and-"

"Hey!" Blaine cried, glaring at his sister. Rachel being a pain in the ass made it so much harder to bite back insults.

Kurt held up his hands between them, trying to avoid a war. "It's fine, Rach, really." He then looked over to Blaine and smirked. "And being stuck with Blaine? It wasn't that bad."

Rachel looked delighted that Kurt had forgiven her so easily and she flopped into the chair next to him. "Good. Besides you can't be mad at me, I have information," she declared animatedly, "Mercedes said Sam's name in her sleep more than once-"

"I'm just gonna go take a shower," Blaine cut in, sensing his time to leave. His gaze locked on Kurt's and he smiled. "Bye, Kurt."

Kurt returned the grin, trying hard not to melt into an inarticulate mess at the sight of that dazzling smile directed at him. "Bye, Blaine."

The shorter boy got up to leave, placing his glass in the sink and waving once before heading for the door.

"Oh, and Blaine?"

Blaine spun around at the sound of Kurt's voice and they exchanged another grin.

"Thanks for keeping me company."

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><p><strong>Review :) <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Ahhh, thank-you guys for such a lovely response! Your reviews are so kind and I love you all :) I must say I cannot stop reading Anderberry fic, it's my new favourite thing! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)**

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><p>A dazed expression made its way onto Kurt's face as he watched Blaine leave the room. Rachel sighed and waved her hand in front of Kurt's eyes, trying to get his attention.<p>

"Kurt, Kuuurt!" she repeated until his head finally snapped towards her.

"Yes?"

"Ugh, you're worse than Blaine," she complained, "As I was saying, Mercedes was talking about Sam in her sleep and I think…"

Kurt pretended to listen intently but in reality his mind was elsewhere. He and Blaine just had a conversation. A proper conversation. A proper conversation lasting like two hours. And maybe, just maybe, he'd broken through that hard exterior that Blaine liked to put up when he was around others.

As Rachel continued babbling Kurt replayed their conversation in his head, smiling as he remembered the way Blaine had looked at him.

"Kurt, are you even listening?" Rachel demanded, flicking her friend's nose with her forefinger and thumb.

Kurt yelped in shock and glared at her. "Rachel Berry, don't you ever do that to me again!"

Rolling her eyes and fixing an irritated expression onto her face, Rachel huffed. "Well next time _listen to me_!"

Having heard Rachel's loud, screechy tone, Kurt's cry and the commotion that followed, Mercedes reluctantly opened her eyes. She joined them in the kitchen a moment later, hair in disarray and grumbling about getting woken up.

"I would tell you both to shut up as I'm trying to sleep but that is now not the case, thanks to you guys," Mercedes complained, extending her arms above her head to stretch. "You know how grumpy I am when I don't get enough beauty sleep."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "It's past ten thirty, I think you'll live."

Mercedes went to retort, only to be silenced by Rachel.

"Now that Mercedes is present I can begin the interrogation," Rachel said happily, gesturing for Mercedes to sit down next to her. Once she did, Rachel turned to Kurt who was sporting a look of confused apprehension.

"So what is this about you and my brother spending the morning together?" Rachel asked, grinning at the blush that instantly settled on Kurt's cheeks at the mention of Blaine.

Trying to not seem too excited about the encounter, Kurt shrugged. "I was waiting for you two sleep whores to get up and Blaine and I got to talking."

A cheeky smile that matched Rachel's flew across Mercedes' face at this news.

"Talking or _talking_?" she asked and Rachel giggled.

Kurt looked at them both like they were idiots. "Talking, you morons, you know, what we're doing right now?"

The rude tone in which Kurt had taken up didn't seem to bother Rachel in the slightest as her grin continued to widen. "What did you talk about?" she asked eagerly.

Once again, Kurt shrugged. "School, Glee Club…you." He looked directly at Rachel who frowned. "It wasn't that big a deal," he said, trying to downplay just how big a deal it was to him.

"Oh, c'mon boo, can't you just be as excited as us about this?" Mercedes begged, taking Kurt's hands in hers with a pleading look on her face.

And thank God for Blaine Anderson who chose that very moment to stroll into the room and ask "Excited about what?"

Rachel smiled at her brother sweetly and stood up to lead him out of the room. "Girl talk, you wouldn't understand."

Kurt took this moment to turn to Mercedes and mouth 'later.' The promise of details put a smile on his best friend's face and she nodded knowingly.

Peering around Rachel who was so rudely blocking her brother, Kurt's eyes locked on Blaine and he let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding onto.

God, Blaine was perfect. His freshly washed curls bobbed as he nodded at Rachel, trying to calm her crazy begs for him to please leave them be this morning. An old, well-worn t-shirt clung to his chest and what Kurt now knew to be an extremely toned stomach. Kurt also noted the way the shirt accentuated Blaine's arms in the best possible way. And those eyes, ugh, Kurt could just stare at them forever.

It was as if being away from Blaine for fifteen minutes had made Kurt forget his complete and utter beauty.

Noticing Kurt staring at him, Blaine grinned happily and waved. "Hey Kurt!"

Kurt instantly blanched but grinned back anyway. "Hi Blaine."

Rachel put a hand on her hip and shook her head. "Why did I ever allow you two to meet?"

Mercedes giggled as Rachel began trying to push Blaine out of the room with attempted force and threats of hiding his hair gel. Blaine gaped at his sister, shocked that she would dare suggest such a thing.

"Alright, alright, I'm going!" Blaine agreed and Rachel stopped shoving him. "I'll see you later, Kurt," he said with one last grin before retreating to his room.

Kurt tried hard to hide the huge smile playing at his lips but Rachel caught it and clapped her hands.

"Okay, spill!" she commanded.

Not knowing where to begin or even what to say, Kurt stayed silent, his eyes begging Mercedes to change the subject.

Instantly understanding Kurt's plea, Mercedes launched into a story about her dream that involved Sam and Rachel had no choice but to listen eagerly. Kurt gave Mercedes a grateful smile before listening attentively, just as keen to hear this story as Rachel was.

It wasn't long before Rachel's Dads joined them in the kitchen and began making everyone pancakes and waffles. Rachel knew better than to bring up Blaine in front of her parents so she waited patiently until they left the room an hour later. Sensing that Rachel would find this the perfect opportunity to continue her interrogation, Kurt made an excuse about having to go home and help Carole with dinner.

"Kurt Hummel, don't think I won't question Blaine about this until he fesses up," Rachel warned.

"I won't tell you anything!" Blaine called from his room and Kurt laughed.

"There you go, Rach, you won't find out a single thing," Kurt teased as he collected his belongings. "Besides, there's nothing to tell. I promise. We just talked."

Rachel gave him an unsure look, still not convinced.

"Thank-you for having me, by the way," Kurt said, pulling Rachel into a quick hug. "Lovely company, as always."

Rachel tried hard not to smile, keeping that unimpressed expression on her face as Kurt hugged Mercedes goodbye.

"I want details, boy," she whispered and Kurt nodded.

"Call me when you get home."

And with that Kurt left. Mercedes followed soon after and the instant she left the house Rachel rushed to Blaine's room, banging on the door until he opened it a minute later.

"Tell me everything," she demanded, waltzing into his room and flopping down onto the bed.

"Oh, Rachel won't you come into my room and make yourself at home," Blaine said in a fake pleasant tone before moving to sit next to her.

Rachel rolled her eyes and then looked at Blaine expectantly.

"Rach, I'm not telling you what we talked about," Blaine said in a tone that showed he clearly thought she was crazy, "What did you expect, a blow by blow recount of our conversation?"

Rachel huffed before muttering, "That would've been nice."

Blaine chuckled at the crestfallen expression on his sister's face. "Look, it was just talking."

_Though it was so much more._

Eyeing her brother dubiously, Rachel raised her hand and pointed a finger at Blaine menacingly. "I swear to God, Blaine, if you break his heart-"

"Hey," Blaine replied, holding his hands in the air to show his innocence, "For the last time, we were just talking. He's nice."

Rachel still looked unconvinced so Blaine sighed. "I really like him, okay?

This seemed to be more than enough to placate Rachel as she grinned and nodded excitedly, throwing her arms around Blaine quickly before returning to her room.

Blaine sighed again. Like he'd ever break Kurt's heart. He'd only had an in interest in this guy for half a fricking year. And it now seemed that maybe Kurt liked him back, more than just in a blushing school-boy crush kind of way.

And God, he hoped he did. Blaine would never admit it to anyone but he would always look forward to Rachel's sleepovers when Kurt would spend the night at theirs, even if it meant he only got a glimpse of that beautiful boy.

Because Blaine liked Kurt that much, so much that even a second in his presence would make his whole day.

Who was he kidding, if anyone's heart was to break from this it would be Blaine's.

* * *

><p>Kurt managed to get home in time to shower before his phone began buzzing. He collected it and sat cross-legged on his bed, preparing himself for a long conversation.<p>

"Tell me everything," Mercedes said as way of greeting when Kurt picked up.

"Well," Kurt grinned as he thought of everything he wanted to relay to Mercedes, "What do you want to know?"

"Start from the beginning," Mercedes insisted and Kurt nodded before realising she couldn't see him.

"Well," Kurt began, "As I said, I was waiting for you two to wake up and was reading Vogue in the kitchen when in walks Blaine, shirtless."

Kurt chuckled at the gasp Mercedes emitted.

"OhmyGod, seriously? I bet he was fit! Is he fit?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes," Kurt practically breathed, picturing Blaine again, "So. Very. Fit."

Mercedes giggled at Kurt's dreamy tone. "I am so jealous!" she cried. They'd had discussions about Blaine's hotness before and Mercedes had been very verbal about her opinions on his appearance. "Anyway, so he walked in shirtless…"

Bringing his mind back to the present, Kurt continued his story. "Yes and I shamelessly checked him out, of course, like the obvious idiot I am. And he actually seemed embarrassed. I mean, can you imagine _Blaine _ashamed of anything?"

Mercedes tried, and failed, to picture the boy who had been blatantly flirting with Kurt for months as anything less than self-assured.

"Yeah, I can't see it," Mercedes agreed before begging Kurt to continue.

"Alright, anyway, so he seemed embarrassed and went to leave but then he asked me if you were an early riser, which I said you weren't, and he knows Rachel isn't either, so he went to his room, returned with a shirt, much to my disappointment, and sat down and just started talking to me," Kurt said excitedly, feeling as if he were reliving the situation again.

"And…" Mercedes prompted and Kurt wondered if she was expecting something ridiculous like a profession of love.

"And we talked for like two hours," Kurt finished, thinking fondly of their conversation again.

"Boy, you said _details_," Mercedes whined and Kurt sighed.

"Alright, well, like I said to Rachel, we did just talk about school and Glee Club and things like that but he seemed different."

"Different how?"

"He was nicer," Kurt said, uncrossing his legs and swinging one over the other, "And, well, not sweet but just…different. In a good way."

Mercedes nodded, taking in this information. "Was there flirting?" she asked, desperate for more information.

Kurt considered this, trying to remember if Blaine had actually flirted like his usual self. "I think so," he replied a moment later, "I mean he kept laughing when I teased him and I did catch him looking at me kinda strangely at one stage, like he was staring into my soul, but-"

"Oh, boo, that sounds like flirting to me!" Mercedes squealed in excitement and Kurt found her enthusiasm infectious as he found himself trying not to flail. "So tell me, how much do you like him?" Mercedes wanted to know.

Kurt bit his lip as he pondered the question. He wondered if he actually wanted a relationship out of this before mentally hitting himself for being so stupid, _of course_ he did. This was Blaine; hot, funny, charming Blaine and if he asked Kurt out he would say yes in an instant.

"I like him a lot," Kurt told Mercedes who had been holding her breath, waiting for the answer. She clapped her hands in excitement at Kurt's words.

"Oh and _none _of this gets back to Rachel," Kurt said seriously, shuddering at the thought of Rachel hearing about the extent of his crush, though he had a feeling she already knew.

"Of course not!" Mercedes cried, laughing at the thought. "Like I'd tell her! I still don't understand why she wants to know so badly. I mean if it were me I would _not _want to hear about how my best friend has the hots for my brother!"

"I know!" Kurt agreed, "It's so weird. I mean he's her _brother_, it would be so weird gushing about him to her."

Mercedes nodded, completely understanding.

They chatted for a while longer, waxing lyrical about Blaine's gorgeous eyes and dazzling smile and cute hair before Kurt realised the time.

"Wow, sorry, I've gotta go," Kurt apologised, standing up and stretching his legs that had gone stiff from their gossip sesh, "I really do need to help Carole with dinner."

"Okay, but you keep me posted, alright?"

Kurt grinned. "Of course."

"And I'm gonna try and convince Rachel to have another sleepover next week," Mercedes told Kurt whose eyes widened at the remark.

"Mercedes!" he practically hissed, "Make sure it's not obvious that I want to go there again so soon!"

"Kurt, calm down," she replied, "I promise I won't. I'll just say what a good time we had and that we should try and have as many sleepovers as we can before the school year is over."

"Alright…that sounds okay," Kurt allowed, "But please just, don't mention me or Blaine."

Mercedes scoffed at the suggestion. "Of course not! Now go make dinner and daydream about Blaine," she said in a teasing tone.  
>"Shut up," Kurt shot back, "I'll call you tomorrow, yeah?"<p>

"Alright, talk to you then. Love you," she said in a sing-song voice.

"Love you too," Kurt replied before hanging up and almost breaking his face with the huge grin he was sporting. If everything went to plan he would see Blaine next week and the thought of that caused his smile to widen even more.

He had never looked this forward to a sleepover at Rachel's.

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><p><strong>AN:<strong>

**mac: I'm sorry that you found it offensive, I didn't in any way mean for it to be. I guess I just thought that if Kurt was nervous he might try to joke about himself to ease the situation. I don't actually think Kurt is a stereotype, I think that maybe he might seem like he is until you dig deeper and realise he's so much more than that. And Chris Colfer is most definitely not a stereotype and I'm sorry if this offended anyone else, I swear I didn't mean for it to be in any way offensive :)**

**Anyway I hope you guys liked this chapter :) Your reviews make me smile! X**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey guys, sorry this update was a little slower than I would've liked. Christmas and New Year's kinda took over. Speaking of which, Happy New Year everyone :) I look forward to even more Klaine in 2012 :D**

**I just wanted to let you guys know that Klaine won't be getting together in the next few chapters so don't expect it immediately. I know some of you are desperate for it to happen but this story is a lot about their relationship growth and I'm sorry but I have already planned the next few chapters and they are both still pining over each other in them. But be patient, this is a Klaine fic after all :)**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter :) Leave me a review, I love hearing your thoughts! X**

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><p>The next day Kurt got a call from Mercedes just as he finished lunch. He quickly dumped his plate and cutlery in the sink and left before Finn could protest about whose turn it was to do the dishes.<p>

"Hey Mercedes," Kurt answered after checking the caller I.D and retreating to his room, "How are you?"

"Good, good," she responded quickly, "But I have bad news."

Kurt's heart instantly leapt into his throat. He'd had a lot of bad news over the past few years and the thought of more made his stomach churn.

"Bad news?" Kurt repeated in a quieter tone than before.

"Yeah, Rachel said we can't sleep over next Friday," Mercedes said and Kurt breathed out in relief.

"God, Mercedes, don't do that again!" he wailed, clutching his chest. "You made it sound like somebody died!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Mercedes hit herself in the forehead as she realised that starting a conversation with 'I have bad news' was probably not the best idea. **"**I didn't even think. I'm sorry. Anyway, we can't sleep over at Rachel's cause her dads are going away for the weekend or something and my parents won't let me stay over there unless there are adults in the house and apparently 19-year-old Blaine doesn't count."

Kurt took in the information and his heart sunk. He'd been really looking forward to seeing Blaine. But friends came first always.

"Don't worry about it, we can just stay at mine," Kurt told her.

"But I wanted growth between you and Blaine!" Mercedes whined and Kurt chuckled.

"There'll be plenty more sleepovers at Rachel's," he assured her though he was pretty disappointed himself.

They chatted for a while longer before agreeing that Mercedes and Rachel would catch a lift with Kurt back to his place next Friday to sleep over. Despite the lack of Blaine, the prospect of another 'girl's night' thrilled Kurt. Now he just had to ask his Dad.

Under the circumstances that Finn wasn't in the house, Rachel and Mercedes were allowed to stay over that Friday night. Finn grumbled about Kurt being allowed to have girls sleep over and how he and Rachel weren't even dating right now before being snapped at by Kurt and finally agreeing to stay over at Sam's instead.

The week of school leading up to their sleepover was like every other: dreary, unpleasant and infuriating.

Kurt found it difficult not to show his hatred for everyone stuck in that hell hole with him. The daily insults rolled off his back but Kurt found himself becoming more and more frustrated as the week came to a close. Why did they have the right to bully him for something he had no control over? It was absolutely maddening to not be able to respond and on Friday Kurt almost cracked it at Azimio before belittling him in French instead, leaving the jock utterly confused.

At the end of the day, Rachel and Mercedes hovered around his locker whilst Kurt collected books, ready to go back to his place. To say he was relieved the school day was over would be a bigger understatement than saying Rachel didn't mind being in control.

"If we have time I would really like to perform my solo for you both tonight," Rachel was saying, missing Mercedes' eye roll. "It was a stroke of genius picking this song as it suits my voice perfectly. However I would like to hear this from someone else. So-"

Rachel paused as none other than Blaine Anderson walked up to them, looking as gorgeous as usual, a bright smile present on his face. He was clad in cuffed chinos and a form-fitting shirt that brought out the hazel in his eyes. Once again Kurt found himself trying hard not to gawk.

"Hi guys!" Blaine greeted happily, offering them a wave that both Kurt and Mercedes returned. Rachel just stared.

"Blaine, what are you doing here?" she demanded, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Hey, sis, lovely to see you too," Blaine replied, trying hard to keep the smile on his face as he did so, "I figured I'd give you a lift home this afternoon considering the Dads have already left for the weekend."

Mercedes aww-ed and Kurt almost did too but stopped himself at the last minute. Didn't he have to give Rachel a lift back to his place; meaning Blaine came here for nothing? But then that train of thought was long gone because Blaine's gaze kept straying to his as he spoke. And those hazel eyes were impossible not to drown in.

Blaine found himself having the same issue with Kurt's beautiful glasz. He didn't understand how a human being could look _that _beautiful after having spent the day at school. Blaine swore only Kurt could.

Rachel's whiny tone wrenched both their attentions back to her.

"But I'm sleeping over at Kurt's tonight," she told her brother, still looking at him dubiously. "He's giving both Mercedes and I a lift there." Rachel paused as she remembered her conversation with Blaine that very morning. "I told you that already!"

Blaine feigned surprise and shrugged. "Oh, sorry, I mustn't have heard you properly."

A mischievous smile worked its way onto Rachel's face as she looked at Kurt briefly before turning back to Blaine. "Well, I'm sure Kurt wouldn't mind you coming over," she said, nudging Kurt who had once again lost himself in Blaine's eyes.

Blinking back to reality, Kurt took in what Rachel said and nodded. "Of course," he said a little too enthusiastically. He tried to lower the excitement in his voice before continuing. "Would you like to come over for dinner? I'd offer for you to join our sleepover but my Dad wouldn't be cool with you staying over considering, well, you know, I mean not that you'd wanna sleep over or anything, I just thought-" Kurt paused, shaking his head at himself as Blaine just laughed. "Would you like to come over for dinner?"

Blaine grinned. "That would be lovely."

"Okay, well we're leaving in a minute," Kurt turned to Rachel and smiled sweetly. "Would you mind driving with your brother and directing him to my house?"

"Sure," Rachel replied, grabbing Blaine's elbow and pulling him down the corridor, much to her brother's annoyance. He hated when Rach treated him like she was older.

"I'll see ya soon," Blaine called over his shoulder comically, using a voice that suggested he was being kidnapped. Kurt couldn't help but chuckle.

Mercedes waited 'til Rachel and Blaine had rounded the corner before squealing quietly and hitting her best friend excitedly.

"Kurt and Blaine, Kurt and Blaine," she chanted, causing a roll of the eyes from Kurt.

"Please, he's coming over for _dinner _with his _sister _there," Kurt reminded her, "It's hardly a date."

"Don't care, Rachel and I intend to make it a date," Mercedes told him, linking arms with her best friend once he shut his locker.

Arching an eyebrow suspiciously, feeling equal parts excitement and fear over this statement, Kurt dared to ask, "And how do you plan on doing that?"

Mercedes shrugged. "We'll just converse the entire time about things neither of you can join in with. It'll force you both into your own conversation. Then you'll realise your love for each other and we'll all live happily ever after."

Kurt snorted. "Oh yes, because life is a fairy tale!"

"It is," Mercedes insisted, "You're just oblivious to Prince Charming trying to sweep you off your feet."

The only response Kurt gave that he'd heard Mercedes' comment was a slight shake of his head.

"Boy, don't even _try _to deny your excitement over tonight!" Mercedes prodded Kurt's arm until he was forced to look at her. When he did, Mercedes noticed the glint of delight in Kurt's eyes showing his true feelings about their evening with Blaine.

"Fine, yes, the thought of talking to Blaine makes a smile permanently fix itself onto my face," Kurt admitted, ignoring the huge grin his comment caused Mercedes, "Is that what you want to hear?"

"Yes!" she practically squealed, earning a few looks as they walked across the parking lot to reach Kurt's navigator.

"Okay, but enough gushing over him," Kurt ordered, "If I start I won't be able to stop and then we'll get to my house and he'll be there and I'll probably walk straight up to him and gush about him _to _him."

Mercedes laughed as she took a seat in the front. "You do realise that sounded completely crazy, yes?"

Kurt nodded. "Exactly, which is why I shouldn't have crushes."

Mercedes giggled and talked about Blaine the whole way to Kurt's house anyway.

When they pulled up in the driveway, Kurt's gaze instantly fell on Blaine in the front garden, being tugged around by Rachel.

"It's quaint but lovely," Rachel was saying, pointing out features of the garden whilst Blaine looked disinterested.

"I'm glad you approve of my home," Kurt called out the window once he parked the Navigator.

Rachel jumped at his sudden presence but Blaine just looked delighted.

_How does he look even better than when I last saw him? _Blaine wondered.

"First things first, pizza!" Kurt said as soon as they entered the house. He grabbed the phone off the hook and began dialling their favourite pizza shop.

Because there had been a long glee club rehearsal after school it was almost 6 o'clock and everyone was starving so food right now was a must. Burt and Carole got home just before the pizza arrived and they called their greetings before heading into the other room.

Mercedes kept true to her word; Rachel and her seemed to be permanently stuck in a deep conversation as they ate. Not that Kurt especially minded, he just continued talking to Blaine about unrelated topics, enjoying the light banter exchanged between them. He'd be lying if he said his heart didn't soar more than once when Blaine made a point of touching his arm or knee. And yeah, he was flirting back when he could and by the way Blaine's eyes lit up when he did, Kurt was fairly certain Blaine noticed.

"Kurt, you still okay to take Finn's shift at the garage tomorrow?" Burt hollered from the other room after their dinner had arrived.

"Yeah, that's fine," Kurt called back distractedly, reaching for more pizza.

Blaine eyed him curiously. "Garage?" he asked and Kurt nodded.

"My Dad owns this tyre shop**, **Hummel Tires and Lube," he explained, "I work there every other weekend."

Blaine's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really? You mean you do admin or you like work on the cars?"

"Work on the cars," Kurt said proudly, enjoying the clear shock in Blaine's expression.

"Well, you didn't tell me _you_ broke the stereotype," Blaine said, contemplating how soon was too soon to crash his car and bring it in for Kurt to fix.

"Well you never asked," Kurt replied smoothly and they exchanged a grin.

"That being said," Kurt continued, "I may own some pretty designer overalls."

Blaine laughed. "Of course."

Pizzas were finished in what Kurt assumed was record-breaking speed – he only ate two slices himself but Mercedes and Blaine practically inhaled the rest. Rachel had a vegan style pizza all to herself that she was nibbling on very slowly whilst her brother and Mercedes devoured their own dinners.

Once everyone was done, the junk food was opened and as they began wolfing down chips and chocolate Kurt decided they should do something different.

"Okay, movie time I'm thinking!" Kurt declared, walking over to the TV and selecting a few movies to suggest.

"Do you have any Disney?" Blaine asked and Rachel groaned.

"Kurt, please say no," Rachel begged, "Blaine has this insane obsession with Disney. I swear I've seen each one sixteen times."

Kurt gave Rachel a look that indicated he thought she was insane before turning back to Blaine. "Of course I do, Blaine," he shot Rachel another look, "Who doesn't like Disney?"

"Well if I didn't already like you I think that comment would've done it!" Blaine joked, his gaze falling on Kurt. They looked at each other for a moment before Kurt looked away, his face reddening slightly. If he ever wished for that incessant blush to vanish it was now.

All the while, Mercedes and Rachel exchanged grins and tried hard not to squeal. They both didn't understand why the two boys weren't together already.

"So," Kurt dragged out the word, "The Little Mermaid, Lady and the Tramp, Beauty and the Beast," he rattled off more names until coming to Blaine's absolute favourite.

"Mulan!" Blaine said excitedly, waltzing up to Kurt and taking the DVD out of his hands before putting it on. Kurt watched on with an amused expression as Blaine took control. He arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

As soon as the movie began, Rachel and Mercedes hastened to grab one of the couches between them, forcing Blaine and Kurt to share the other. Without a care in the world, Blaine sat cross-legged on one side of the couch and indicated for Kurt to join him. A moment later, Kurt did, crawling in on himself and trying to not sit too close to Blaine. Even after Blaine's clear advances Kurt made sure not to come across too forward. He didn't want to make a fool out of himself after all.

As the movie played, Blaine non-intentionally edged closer to Kurt and by the time he became sleepy, Kurt's shoulder was right there and he found himself resting his head on it. He inhaled the calming smell of cologne and hair product and _Kurt_ and the soothing aroma lulled him to sleep.

As soon as Kurt felt Blaine's head fall onto his shoulder he froze. What was he supposed to do? Should he wake Blaine up? It was probably the right thing to do. But the selfish part of Kurt loved the feeling of Blaine cuddling up to him and didn't want it to end, so he left him and continued watching 'Mulan', which was significantly harder to concentrate on now.

"Okay, I think it's time for Blaine to go home," Burt decided a little while later, walking into the lounge room to find the boy he'd been referring to sleeping on his son's shoulder.

Kurt turned around hesitantly and offered his Dad a smile.

"He fell asleep," Kurt told him, "There's no way you'd change your mind on the whole 'boys sleeping over not allowed' thing, is there?"

Burt stared straight through Kurt. "Nope."

"Fine," Kurt grumbled, lightly poking Blaine to wake him up.

It took a few seconds for Blaine to respond. He blinked open his eyes and smiled when he was greeted by beautiful glasz. And then he realised where he'd fallen asleep.

"Wow, sorry," Blaine apologised, lifting his head off of Kurt's shoulder, "Then again, no I'm not. That was quite a comfortable nap. So thank-you."

Kurt chuckled and rolled his eyes before saying, "You're very welcome."

There were a few moments of silence in which Mercedes and Rachel pretended to be paying attention to the movie but were really watching the two boys out of the corner of their eyes.

"Time for me to go?" Blaine guessed, stretching his arms in a very distracting way that accentuated his muscles. Kurt tore his gaze away from Blaine's biceps and focused on his face instead.

"Yes, sorry. It's Dad's rules," Kurt explained, embarrassed to be kicking Blaine out of his house.

"Don't stress it," Blaine replied. He stood up and stretched some more before walking over to Rachel. "Seeya tomorrow, sis." He kissed her lightly on the cheek and waved goodbye to Mercedes.

And then he turned to Kurt. "Thank-you so much for having me."

"It was no problem, really," Kurt replied with a smile. "You're welcome here anytime."

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them and Kurt bit his lip, wondering if that had been too forward. He was still very confused as to how to act with Blaine and didn't know if he was overstepping some invisible line.

"I mean you're Rachel's brother," Kurt hastened to add, "So of course you're welcome."

Blaine grinned, loving how easily he could make Kurt blush. "I'll take you up on that one time."

He waved once more, what Kurt was now beginning to assume was a bit of a trademark of his, before thanking Burt for letting him stay for dinner. And then Blaine was out of the house, much too soon for Kurt's liking.

Rachel and Mercedes instantly stopped pretending to watch 'Mulan'and both swivelled to face Kurt eagerly.

"He literally verbalised that he liked you!" Rachel said a little too loudly.

"He fell asleep on your shoulder!" Mercedes squealed.

"And does he have _any _limits when it comes to flirting?" Rachel added, grinning.

Kurt just stayed silent, his stomach doing flips flops over the same things his friends were mentioning. Had all of that just happened?

"I'm sorry Kurt, but you can't say he isn't interested," Rachel continued in the voice she used when she knew she was right.

That was the thing though. Blaine clearly was interested but was this all just flirting and mucking around to him? Kurt wanted a relationship and as much as he enjoyed their teasing he knew he would enjoy calling Blaine his boyfriend a thousand times more.

"I dunno, Rach, it's not like he's asked me out," Kurt reminded, hating how quickly he'd come down from his 'Blaine high.'

"Oh, hush," Mercedes scolded, "He'll ask when he's certain you'll say yes. Which you are yet to make clear, by the way!"

"Yeah, Kurt!" Rachel chimed in, "My brother may suck at subtlety but you're a little too good at it."

Kurt looked at them both like they were mad. "But I'm flirting back!" Kurt insisted, "And I'm fairly certain I blush more than enough for him to get the message."

"I don't know," Rachel replied, getting that look in her eye that meant she had a plan, "Why don't you try initiating the flirting a bit?"

"Okay, this is a little too weird," Kurt said instantly, moving to put a little distance between him and Rachel. "I'm not talking about this with _you_."

"And why not?" Rachel demanded, looking offended.

"Blaine's your _brother_. Why aren't you against us getting together? It's just…" Kurt searched for the right word, "Weird. It's so_ weird_."

Rachel stuck her chin out and crossed her arms. "I want you both to be happy, as a matter of fact."

"Can we drop it?" Kurt asked, loving that Blaine was the topic but hating that everything was being directed at him. "I like him, he may or may not be serious about me, oh well."

"But he is!" Rachel practically yelled, becoming quickly frustrated with her best friend. "Why are you acting so blind when Blaine's being so obvious? Clearly he wants something with you or he'd stop pursuing you! I know him and he's never acted like this with someone before."

Kurt's heart leapt at Rachel's words but he pushed the feeling away and sighed tiredly. "Enough, Rachel, please. Can't we just move on to trying to fix you and Finn? What's new there? When are you two getting back together?"

As much as Rachel wanted to harass Kurt about her brother, she knew nothing would get through to him now. And she really couldn't resist rambling about Finn when the chance presented itself.

"Well…" Rachel instantly launched into a recount of the latest escapades of Finchel and the love they so clearly shared that Finn was just too scared to admit.

The rest of the night was uneventful, but fun. They watched more movies, gossiped like old women and got next to no sleep.

That morning Kurt got up early, as per usual, and found himself wishing he were at Rachel's and could have Blaine's company again. Instead, he found his Dad in the kitchen, eating – much to his dismay – bacon and eggs for breakfast. Kurt gave his father a disapproving look but stayed silent. He'd learnt well the past month that fighting Burt about food was a lost cause, but that didn't stop Kurt from hating his choice of breakfast.

Kurt poured himself a bowl of cereal and joined his Dad at the kitchen bench.

"Did you have a good night?" Burt asked, finishing his bacon.

Kurt nodded and swallowed his mouthful of orange juice before answering. "Yeah, it was fun. Movies, make-overs, mayhem; you know the deal by now, Dad."

Burt chuckled. "After your weekly sleepovers, yes I do." He finished his drink before touching on the subject that had more than slightly bugged him the night before.

"Rachel's brother, what was the deal there?"

Kurt almost choked on his mouthful of food. "Uh, I invited him over for dinner."

Knowing that was far from the full story, Burt raised his eyebrows. "That all?"

"Yes!" Kurt said a little too quickly, "Yes, I mean he came to pick Rach up from school because he'd forgotten she was staying the night at ours. I felt rude if I didn't at least offer for him to join us for a little while."

Burt kept staring so Kurt continued explaining, hoping his Dad wouldn't be mad. "I mean it's not like I said he could sleep over," Kurt said almost desperately, "I know your rules. I was just being polite."

Burt stared at his son for a second longer before getting up and depositing his plate and cutlery in the sink.

"Well, I'd be careful there, Kurt," Burt warned his son, "I'm fairly certain that Blaine kid has a thing for you."

And with that Burt left the room, missing the grin Kurt was trying so hard to hide.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Yay for a fast update! Hope you guys enjoy :) reviews are always welcome, thank-you so much for the kind ones so far! X**

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><p>Blaine really hadn't meant to. It had been an accident. Of course, he'd intended to, maybe in a few weeks, but not now and not the way that it happened.<p>

He'd crashed his car into a pole, like an idiot. And the reason? He'd been too busy singing along to the _Wicked _Soundtrack with Rachel. Her high pitched scream was more than enough punishment for Blaine's actions however he still needed to get his car fixed and pay for the damage too. Rachel had assured him it wouldn't be that much, especially if he went to Kurt's Dad's garage.

So that's why, on a Wednesday afternoon, Blaine found himself at Hummel Tires and Lube. He walked in sheepishly, wondering if Kurt would be working today, when Burt hollered a 'I'll be with you in a minute.' The butterflies at the thought of seeing Kurt subsided somewhat as he took a seat, waiting for Burt to join him.

"Hi, Blaine, how ya doing?" Burt asked, clapping him on the shoulder.

Kurt's ears pricked up at the name his father had just said and he quickly ducked underneath the car he'd been working on. Now was definitely not a good time for Blaine to see him. His hair was ruffled, grease streaks covered his overalls and, he was pretty sure, his face too. All chances he had with Blaine would be gone in a second if the boy were to see him now.

Unfortunately, Burt seemed to think otherwise as he walked Blaine straight to where Kurt was working.

"Kurt, Blaine's here," Burt said, hitting the side of the car, "His car's banged up pretty bad. Could do with your help."

And with that, Burt left, not even offering Kurt the chance to decline to help Blaine. Not that he would, then he'd seem rude. Also the thought of more chatter with Blaine did make his heart beat just a little faster.

"Ahh, Kurt?" Blaine asked hesitantly, peering underneath the car until his eyes met Kurt's.

"Right, sorry," Kurt answered, sliding out from where he'd been lying.

Once he was standing upright, Blaine had a chance to appreciate Kurt's appearance in full. He hadn't been joking when he'd said he owned designer overalls. The ones Kurt wore, despite the grease stains, were much nicer than Burt's. His usually styled-to-perfection hair lay loose, messy but very cute. Like always, Blaine found it difficult to not just gaze at the boy in front of him. He was just _so damn attractive_.

"So," Kurt said, pulling Blaine's focus away from his appearance, "What happened?"

Avoiding Kurt's eyes, Blaine replied quietly. "I hit a pole."

"You hit a pole?" Kurt repeated, trying to hide his amusement.

Blaine nodded, a smile on his lips too. "Well more like it hit me." Kurt just rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, okay, go ahead, make fun of my terrible driving skills."

Kurt shook his head, his smile still present. "I would do no such thing. However I was wondering if you did it on purpose."

Blaine almost spluttered at Kurt's words. How did he know? How had he figured out that Blaine intended to crash intentionally just so he could bring his car in and see Kurt? Was he that obvious? Probably, not that being obvious had ever been an issue before considering the blatant flirting Kurt was subjected to frequently.

"No, of course not," Blaine said immediately, "I mean I considered doing it on purpose but- "

Blaine shut his mouth instantly and his eyes widened as he realised what he'd just admitted.

Arching an eyebrow, Kurt smirked. "You considered crashing your car on purpose?"

Blaine shook his head resolutely, wishing so badly he could take back the words that had just left his mouth. "Nope, no."

Kurt chuckled. "I could've sworn that's what you said."

"You must've misheard." Blaine could feel his cheeks growing warm as Kurt continued to look at him, amusement clear in his stare.

"But why would you do it on purpose?" Kurt asked, feigning deep thought. "I mean, unless you wanted an excuse to see yours truly."

And now Blaine's blush could not have been more pronounced as he bit his lip, wishing the ground would swallow him whole.

"You are clearly mistaken," Blaine said through clenched teeth, "As I don't need an excuse to see you. Last week I believe you gave me permission to be at your house whenever I want so who looks stupid now?"

Kurt just laughed and shook his head. "Alright, whatever you say," he allowed, walking over to Blaine's car and beginning to inspect the damage. "If it wasn't on purpose then how did you crash it? Just bad driving?" he teased.

"I got distracted." Blaine ducked his head and mumbled, "Rach and I were singing 'Defying Gravity'."

A grin instantly spread across Kurt's face at this news. "Defying Gravity?" he repeated incredulously, "You're a _Wicked _fan?"

Blaine nodded. "Yes, I am. With Rachel in the house you pretty much have to be."

_Seriously, was this guy just aiming to be perfect?_ Kurt wondered as he grinned at this new information. _'Cause he's succeeding pretty well._

"So I'm guessing you've seen it live?" Kurt asked excitedly, always eager to discuss his favourite musical.

Blaine nodded and smiled as he recounted the last time he'd seen the show. "Rachel's dragged me to it no less than four times. By the second time I realised I was in love with it."

"Wow," Kurt said, genuinely impressed, "I've only been twice but it's my favourite musical _ever_."

An idea then occurred to Blaine, placing a smile on his face. "I'm thinking of getting Rach tickets for her eighteenth, maybe I could score an extra one and you could come with?" Blaine suggested, knowing he'd enjoy the outing a hundred times more if Kurt was by his side. He could just imagine the boy's face lit up in delight as he watched his favourite show. It may've sounded obsessive but Blaine would give anything to see Kurt that happy.

Pleasantly surprised at the offer but keen nonetheless, Kurt beamed at Blaine. "I'd really like that!"

"Awesome, I'll see what I can do," Blaine replied, looking forward to Rachel's eighteenth already.

Kurt then snuck a glance at Blaine who was sneaking a glance at him and their eyes locked. As per usual Blaine held Kurt's gaze until the taller boy looked away, face reddening but a smile threatening at his lips.

Remembering that this wasn't just some catch up and flirting session with Blaine, that he actually had a job to do, Kurt surveyed Blaine's car again before turning back to face him. "Alright, so it's pretty simple what we need to do to fix-"

"Agnes," Blaine cut in, a goofy grin on his face. "Her name is Agnes."

"You named your car?" Kurt asked, eyebrow raised. The thought of another thing to tease Blaine about thrilled him. He'd recently discovered teasing Blaine was one of his favourite things to do.

"Yep," Blaine replied with no shame, "Haven't you?"

Kurt shook his head, still smirking. "No…because that would be weird."

"It's not weird," Blaine insisted, "It's quite normal. And your poor car must feel so neglected; nameless and unloved."

"Hey, I love my car," Kurt said immediately, becoming defensive. "Just because I'm not insane and don't name inanimate objects doesn't mean I love it any less."

"I think you should name your car," Blaine urged, still with that silly smile. He loved arguing with Kurt. Only play-fighting of course, he imagined being in a real fight with Kurt would be terrifying. His biting wit and sass would surely cut Blaine like a knife. Still, he had to admit he'd like to see Kurt riled up one day. Just preferably not directed at him.

Kurt considered Blaine's suggestion for about a second before shaking his head. "No, I think I'm right thanks."

"Fine, but next time I see your car it's getting itself a name!" Blaine stated confidently, ignoring Kurt's eye roll.

"Anyway," Kurt continued, dragging out the word to exaggerate how much he wanted to move on from this ridiculous topic, "All we need to do to fix _Agnes_," Blaine grinned from ear to ear, "Is order in a new bumper and fit it and it'll be as good as new."

"Awesome! How long will that take?" Blaine asked, already going over alternative ways of transport in his head.

Kurt considered this for a moment, unconsciously biting his lip. His eyebrows furrowed in the most adorable way as he thought and Blaine wanted, now more than ever, to tell Kurt just how cute he was. Of course, he refrained and was torn back to reality by Kurt's voice moments later.

"Well, usually about a fortnight or so. But I'll try and get it done by next week."

"Special treatment?" Blaine asked cheekily and Kurt grinned.

"Well, you are one of those very _special_," Kurt said the word like it was a bad thing, "customers."

Blaine took this as a compliment and shrugged. "Can't help that I'm exceptional when compared to others."

Kurt just rolled his eyes and pressed his lips tight together to stop from smiling.

"Look, all jokes aside, this is really nice of you to hurry fixing my car," Blaine said honestly, "Did you maybe wanna grab some lunch, like as a thank-you?"

Kurt almost stopped breathing. There it was. It may not have been a date but it was still Blaine offering to catch up, just the two of them. And _God_, Kurt wanted to say yes, but-

"I can't," Kurt said sadly, "I'm working 'til 7."

Blaine's face fell slightly and Kurt hastened to continue.

"But it's already 5," he reminded Blaine, "Hardly time for lunch. How about I get a rain check? We could do lunch once I fix your car?" Kurt suggested.

A smile lit up Blaine's face immediately and he nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds great."

Their eyes locked once again for an intense moment and both exchanged a smile before Kurt quickly looked away and spoke to relieve the tension.

"Well, I can't really do much on your car 'til I order in the parts."

"That's fine," Blaine replied happily, "Thank-you so much for helping me out."

Kurt smiled. "No problem."

Silence.

There was so much Blaine wanted to say. He wanted to ask Kurt if he'd still go out to lunch if he knew it was a date. He wished he had the guts to ask if Kurt would mind him hanging around the garage until 7 so they could chat whilst he worked. He wanted to tell Kurt that despite the fact that he had grease on his face and his hair was far from perfect, he still looked beautiful. But instead of saying any of those things, Blaine apologised and said he had to get home.

"You know Rachel, she's waiting outside to take me home and she'll bitch at me if I take too long," Blaine said, beginning to retreat already. "And the bitching is too much pain to risk!"

A chuckle escaped Kurt's lips as he nodded his understanding.

"I'll see you sometime soon," Kurt said hopefully with a smile.

"Yeah," Blaine paused, looking as if he'd remembered something, "I believe Rach was planning another sleepover at ours this Saturday night."

Well, that was new. She hadn't mentioned anything to Kurt about that yet but then again she'd been pretty distracted with preparing for the solo she had performed in glee club today.

Kurt had to say his stomach did a bit of a gymnastics routine at the thought of seeing Blaine again so soon. And maybe they could have another early morning chat…

"Well in that case, seeya at 7am the next morning?" Kurt asked with a grin.

"7 it is."

Blaine smiled once more and waved his cute little wave before leaving the garage.

Blissful and buoyant, Kurt sank to the ground and sighed dreamily. Man, was he falling deep.

Burt waltzed over to his son and smiled at Kurt's dazed expression. "Told ya he likes you," he stated before leaving Kurt to daydream.

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><p><strong>AN: So I know nothing about cars, I hope what I wrote made sense and wasn't completely wrong :S<strong>

**Review :) X**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Wow guys, 100 reviews already, thank-you so much! Longer chapter this time, just a heads up there's quite a bit of Anderberry, I'm not sure how it ended up that way but it just flowed and I did want to show a bit more depth to Blaine and Rachel's relationship so here it is :) Hope you guys enjoy this chapter :) X**

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><p>As soon as Blaine left the garage he hit himself in the forehead. God, why was he such an idiot?<p>

They were getting along fine, great even. Kurt had agreed to lunch and then he'd gone and said _that_.

What if his sister didn't want a sleepover this weekend? Then again, when had Rachel Berry ever turned down a sleepover with her best friends? Still, if she didn't want one this particular weekend Blaine would look like an ass. And Kurt would know he'd lied.

You see, he'd panicked. Well, panicked was a bit strong a word. But he just wanted to see Kurt again soon and a sleepover was the first thing that came to mind without him having to actually ask out the boy he was pining over.

His mouth had verbalised the words before he'd fully thought the plan through. And now he was realising what a stupid idea it had been and was starting to go through a list of blackmail he had on Rachel to make her agree to let Kurt sleep over, and not breathe a word about the fact that Blaine made it all up.

But then Blaine remembered that smile and he instantly calmed for a moment.

Even if Rach said no, the beautiful smile that had worked its way onto Kurt's face as a result of Blaine's news of a sleepover was worth looking like a fool.

"Blaine, stop dawdling!" Rachel called out from the driver's seat of her car, "I know you're short and that means your steps are hobbit sized but that's no excuse to be so damn slow!"

Rolling his eyes and groaning at Rachel's shrill tone, Blaine slipped into the passenger seat of his sister's car. He looked over at her and glared. "What's got your knickers in a knot?"

She instantly turned her key in the ignition and began to drive, ignoring Blaine's comment.

"Seriously, Rach, what's wrong?" Blaine asked, voice suddenly laced with concern. Sure, his sister was sometimes a bitch but 9 times out of 10 she had a good reason for being so.

"Nothing," Rachel muttered, eyes glued to the road and purposefully avoiding Blaine's puppy-dog eyes.

He reached over to pat her comfortingly on the knee only to be pushed away.

"I'm just in a bad mood, okay?" Rachel exploded, tears of anger already pooling in her eyes.

Blaine knew the signs of a Rachel Berry meltdown well and he was just about an expert at defusing them. He convinced Rachel to pull over so they were at least eliminating the danger of another car accident before taking her hands in his.

"What happened?" he asked, having a pretty good idea who was causing his sister pain.

"He's back with Quinn," was all Rachel managed to get out before tears cascaded down her face.

Blaine sighed. One day he was gonna kill Finn Hudson for every little bit of Rachel's heart he'd smashed to pieces.

Pulling his sister into a tight hug, Blaine rubbed soothing circles to Rachel's back and held her whilst she cried.

It was ten minutes before Rachel calmed down even slightly. She took a few shuddering breaths before speaking.

"Thanks," she mumbled, swiping at her red eyes to remove the tears from her face.

Rachel looked embarrassed like she always did after Blaine witnessed one of her crying sessions. It's not like she wanted to be so dramatic all the time or that she was glad to have a heart so full of care that it broke easily. No, she'd trade it in a second if it meant less pain.

Blaine peered at his sister and smiled at her sympathetically. "Rach, let me drive. We'll get you home and then we'll do anything to make you feel better, okay? Whatever you want!"

This caused Rachel to grin, though the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Even if it means listening to me sing all night?"

Blaine chuckled. "Of course you'd choose to torture me after I help you out. Okay, fine, sounds good. Just let me drive."

Rachel agreed and they switched seats. Once Blaine started the car Rachel grinned. "Just make sure you don't go crashing into any more poles, alright?"

Blaine hid his grin and responded sarcastically instead of allowing a chuckle to escape his lips. "Ha ha, very funny."

Though all jokes aside, he was just happy Rachel wasn't in tears at present.

"Then again, I guess that'd be another excuse to see Kurt, wouldn't it?" she teased, that smile still playing at her lips.

Blaine didn't respond, choosing to ignore Rachel's jabs to his arm as he drove.

"C'mon, tell me how it went," she prodded and Blaine sighed.

"Okay," he finally gave in after a few more pokes to his leg. "So I took the car in, we talked, figured out what it would take to fix it and that's it."

Rachel shot him a deadpanned look. "Yeah, like I'm gonna believe that!"

"Believe what you want, I'm telling the truth."

"C'mon, my love life is nonexistent and I'll probably spend the next week eating ice-cream and listening to Adele so please, just please, give me something to be happy about." Rachel paused and looked at her brother sadly. "I know how lonely Kurt gets. And I know your confident façade is just that: a façade. You're lonely too. You both deserve someone like each other in your lives."

Blaine's lips tugged into a smile as he thought of what Rachel said. It was true. Kurt was one of the best people he'd ever met. He did deserve love and for someone to show him just how amazing he is. Blaine would be more than happy to be that someone. So why couldn't he just ask Kurt out, properly so that both knew it was a date? Each time he considered just blurting the words something stopped him. The timing wasn't right, the words refused to come or his insecurity kicked in. Sure, Kurt flirted with him but these days everyone flirts. What if Blaine was to ask him out and Kurt said no? That would crush him and ruin all the progress he'd made. It would also wreck their friendship which meant more to Blaine than he'd like to let on. It was nice having someone he could completely be himself with. There was no way he was gonna risk throwing that away unless he was 100% sure it would lead to something even better.

"Blaine!" Rachel shrieked and her brother blinked back to reality. "You can't just zone out when you're driving! You could get us killed!"

"Ahh, stop yelling!" Blaine cried, squinting his eyes to show his pain at the volume of Rachel's yelps, "Alright, okay. I'm sorry."

"That's okay," Rachel said quietly, her breathing returning to normal now that they weren't in danger of dying.

There was a moment of silence before Rachel decided to break it with a question Blaine would rather not answer.

"So, what were you thinking about?" she asked knowingly.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Skipping off into the sunset holding hands with Kurt," he replied sarcastically.

"Ahh, so it was about Kurt," Rachel noted, clapping her hands to show her excitement.

"That was a joke," Blaine stated, wishing his sister didn't know him so well.

"Sure…"

The rest of the short drive home was filled with Rachel teasing Blaine about his feelings for Kurt. If he was being honest, Blaine's annoyance over this topic of conversation was all an act. He didn't even mind discussing Kurt with his sister, in fact he kinda liked it.

As soon as they walked in the door Rachel went straight for the freezer, pulling out a tub of cookies and cream ice-cream and two spoons. She offered one to Blaine who took it and led them to the family room where he put on 'Funny Girl' before settling next to his sister on the couch.

This was practically a routine now. Each time Rachel came home upset, whether it be about glee club or Finn, they would eat their weight in junk food and watch one of their favourite movies together.

Sure, the siblings fought loudly and often but when it came down to it, they really cared about each other.

Blaine would do anything if it meant taking his little sister's sadness away. Volunteering to do whatever Rachel felt like to make her feel better today had been genuine. She deserved to be happy and Blaine wanted nothing more than that for her.

And Rachel so obviously wanted her brother to experience happiness and love too. He hadn't had a boyfriend since his messy break-up with Sebastian the year before and Rach was convinced he and Kurt were made for each other.

Even if it took everything she had, Rachel would get those two together by the end of the year.

"Feeling any better?" Blaine asked half way through the movie when the ice-cream had long been eaten or melted.

Rachel shrugged. "A little bit."

Blaine gave her a sympathetic smile and pulled her in for another hug. She rested her head on his chest and leant into the embrace briefly before pulling away.

"Maybe a sleepover this weekend would make you feel better?" Blaine suggested, hoping he was being subtle. Rachel saw right through his comment and shook her head.

"And who would be invited to this sleepover? Maybe Kurt?" she asked, voice thick with amusement.

Blaine pretended to be surprised as he shrugged. "Hey, yeah, Kurt. You could invite him! Whoever you want!"

Rolling her eyes, Rachel turned back to face the movie. "I dunno, I'm not so sure I want Kurt or Mercedes to see me like this," she said sadly, avoiding Blaine's eyes but not fooling him in the slightest. He could hear the tremors in her voice. Within seconds he knew she'd be crying.

"They're your best friends," Blaine said, forgetting about him and Kurt for a second. It bothered him that Rachel didn't feel she could turn to even her closest friends for comfort. "That's what they're there for."

Shrugging and turning even more away from Blaine, Rachel shakily exhaled before speaking. "They've seen me like this so many times, after so many break-ups and fights with Finn, I just, I don't want them to think less of me. They shouldn't have to pick me up each time I fall apart."

Blaine stared at his sister like he thought she was crazy. "Rach, they want to. I'm sure of it. That's friendship."

He got no response from Rachel who he assumed was fighting back tears with her back to him so Blaine decided to continue, hoping he'd get everything he wanted to say out before Rachel cut him off.

"I know for a fact you helped Kurt with his Dad's heart attack."

Rachel paused and turned around ever so slightly to peer at her brother.

"He told me," Blaine said, "First time he was over here we were talking about religion. I don't remember how it came up, it might've had something to do with the fact that we're both Jewish and he was wondering about it. The point is he felt bad. You guys helped him through that tough time in his life and sure, he pushed you all away, but what do you expect? He thought his Dad was gonna die! And he told me he appreciated it way more than he could ever convey to you, so he didn't try because he knew that words would never express his gratitude."

Blaine paused, surveying Rachel's face for any sign that said he should stop talking. When she didn't give him any reason to, Blaine took Rachel's hand in his before carrying on.

"After what you did for him, Kurt would be more than willing to be there for you."

Once again, Rachel didn't comment and Blaine took it as an okay to continue.

"And Mercedes? She's your friend for a reason. She obviously cares about you."

Blaine paused to look at his sister seriously, waiting until her eyes met his to keep talking. "You may be a little bit crazy," Rachel hid a smile, "But you choose good friends, of that I am sure."

Sighing, Rachel sniffled once before shrugging at her brother.

"They want to help you," Blaine finished, leaning over to run his finger under Rachel's filled eyes to catch a few tears.

"You just want me to be okay with this so I'll invite Kurt over for a sleepover," Rachel said, swallowing back the last traces of tears as a smile threatened at her lips.

Blaine grinned as he stifled a laugh. "That may be true but it doesn't change any of what I just said. Seriously Rach, you're a good friend to them. They'll be more than willing to return the favour."

Rachel stayed silent to consider it for a moment longer before finally agreeing that yes, a girl's night this Saturday was exactly what she needed.

Refraining from fist-pumping his delight, Blaine instead chose to just grin.

"This is Christmas come early for you," Rachel teased, pointing to her brother's mouth, "You look like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland!"

Blaine laughed. "Shh. Don't tell Kurt."

Grinning, Rachel shook her head. "I wouldn't dare. However I have a feeling his reaction will be similar."

Rachel had been spot-on. The next day when she brought up the sleepover with her friends a grin that matched Blaine's flitted across Kurt's face.

"Blaine told me about it yesterday so I naturally cleared my schedule for it," Kurt said happily, looking forward to this weekend immensely.

Rachel arched an eyebrow. "Blaine told you yesterday? What, when he went to the garage?"

Kurt nodded. "Yep. Also can I just say Agnes is a ridiculous name for a car. Your brother is clearly insane."

Rachel laughed along with her friends but her mind was busy working something else out. She'd only decided on a sleepover last night, _after_ Blaine had seen Kurt. But her brother had apparently notified Kurt of the sleepover hours before that. Well that didn't make sense. She decided she'd ask her brother about it later.

Blaine shrugged when Rachel confronted him that night.

"I figured you'd suggest a sleepover," he said simply, "You do most weekends."

Rachel looked at him strangely, everything still not adding up. "But why would you tell Kurt that there was _definitely _a sleepover this weekend? For all you knew I could've had plans already!"

"No offense, Rachel, but you rarely have plans that don't include Mercedes and Kurt."

Rachel pursed her lips at that and sighed. "Blaine, just tell me."

"Nothing to tell," Blaine replied calmly, wishing his sister wouldn't read so much into this and once again scolding himself for being such an idiot and telling Kurt about the sleepover before consulting Rachel.

It took Rachel a whole minute before it dawned on her. "You figured you'd convince me to have a sleepover anyway just so you could see Kurt!"

She gasped a second later as more puzzle pieces fit into place.

"So you didn't really care about my well-being last night, you just wanted an excuse to see him! All of that 'your friends care about you' was just bullshit?"

"Rachel, don't be so dramatic," Blaine said tiredly. "Yes, I'm an idiot and told Kurt about a sleepover before you'd decided. And yes, I wanted an excuse to spend time with Kurt, after all my gushing about him you can't seriously be surprised... But Rach, I promise you, if you honestly hadn't felt like seeing your friends that weekend I wouldn't have pushed it. I would've called Kurt and apologised for being so stupid and yes, I would've looked like a fool in front of the guy that I liked but it wouldn't matter because you're my sister. And as lame as it sounds, family _always _comes first."

There were tears in Rachel's eyes as she launched at Blaine, arms pulling him into a hug.

"Thank-you," she said seriously, tightening her arms around Blaine for a moment before letting go.

"Yeah yeah, best brother award goes to me," he joked.

The next two days flew by and before Blaine knew it, it was Saturday night and he was answering the front door to reveal Kurt looking incredible in tight jeans and a stylish mocha trench coat.

As per usual Blaine almost swooned at the sight of the gorgeous boy.

That being said Blaine had to admit he had preferred Kurt's appearance the other day. He never thought he'd have a thing for mechanics but Kurt had made those overalls look unbelievably sexy.

"Hey," Kurt greeted, pulling Blaine out of his not so appropriate thoughts.

"Uh, right, sorry, hi," Blaine said, always the master of eloquence.

Hiding a smile at Blaine's stammering, Kurt strolled past Blaine into the hallway. "So, do you miss Agnes?" he asked, turning back to see Blaine's reaction.

Cracking a smile, Blaine nodded emphatically. "Dearly. Rachel's excuse for a car really doesn't measure up."

"_Hey_!" Rachel called, joining them in the hallway and opening her arms to hug Kurt hello. "Barbra is perfectly fine, thank-you."

"You named your car too?" Kurt shook his head. "I'm surrounded by crazy people!"

Blaine and Rachel's laughter melded together as they walked into the living room and instantly flopped down onto couches. Kurt chose to sit next to Rachel for a change. He could've imagined it but it almost looked as if Blaine's face fell at this.

The three chatted for the next quarter of an hour before Mercedes showed up, movies and junk food in hand.

"Anyone up for 'High School Musical'?" she asked with a grin once they were all situated in the family room, Blaine included.

"_Really_, Mercedes?" Kurt asked, crossing one leg over the other and moving his position on the couch he was sharing with Blaine. As soon as Mercedes had gotten there she'd practically ran to sit next to Rachel on the other couch, leaving Kurt no other option than to sit next to Blaine. Not that he minded, not at all. And if Blaine just happened to fall asleep on him again then that wouldn't have been so bad either…

"Oh, c'mon," Blaine nudged Kurt, a cheeky expression on his face, "Like you don't have all the soundtracks on your iPod!"

"As a matter of fact I don't!" Kurt replied steadily, his eyes flickering to Rachel. "But I'm sure your sister does."

Rachel shrugged. "I won't even deny my love for 'High School Musical'. Not that Blaine can talk, we used to perform all the Sharpay and Ryan duets to family friends when we were younger."

Mercedes and Kurt instantly burst out laughing as they imagined this. Blaine coloured slightly in embarrassment but Kurt just grinned at him.

"That's a bit cute," he said in a teasing tone.

Blaine sighed. "Okay, so maybe I used to love the movies and maybe I still do a little bit," Kurt's grin widened, "But can you really blame me when Zac Efron plays the main character?"

All four teenagers sighed dreamily.

"Yep, he's one fine piece of ass," Mercedes agreed.

"So are we all up for watching it?" Rachel asked, looking forward to seeing one of her favourite movies for the first time in years.

Everyone agreed, Kurt reluctantly, and before too long they were all bursting into song. It turned out that even if Kurt didn't have the soundtrack on his iPod he knew most of the words to pretty much every 'High School Musical' song and enjoyed singing loudly with the three others.

When it came to the Evans siblings' duets Rachel and Blaine stood up and took to the 'stage', performing the songs for Mercedes and Kurt who found it hard to stop laughing at the coordinated dance moves they'd choreographed years before.

Every other song all four sung passionately with bursts of laughter and dorky dancing.

Once they'd finished the first two 'High School Musical's everyone decided it was time to give the movies a rest and begin the usual gossip sesh.

"Sam called me yesterday," Mercedes informed enthusiastically, causing an excited squeal from Rachel and a childish grin from Kurt. "I know it could be too early to say this but I think he might actually ask me out!"

Rachel squealed once more.

"I called it!" Kurt declared. He smiled happily at his best friend who beamed at everyone's reactions.

"That's so awesome, Mercedes," Blaine offered.

Everyone turned to look at Blaine curiously and Rachel shook her head at him.

"Okay, time for you to leave," she told her brother, standing up and readying herself to have to drag him away if needed.

"Um, why?"

"Because we're now talking about personal things and you're still my brother and not suddenly a part of our group," Rachel said, a little harsher than intended.

When Blaine settled for giving her puppy dog eyes instead of moving, Rachel sighed.

"Blaine, just because you're crushing on Kurt doesn't mean you can hang around us all the time now, okay?" she said seriously but her eyes danced with laughter at Blaine's shocked expression.

"Oh thanks Rach, love you too," he replied sarcastically before moving to hiss in her ear, "And what happened to you wanting me to get closer to Kurt?"

Rachel waved her hand as if what her brother said meant nothing to her, responding in a tone much louder than Blaine would've liked. "You two can talk in the morning. Right now it's time to catch up with my best friends."

Blaine huffed as he stood up before offering Kurt a smile.

"Tomorrow morning?" Kurt asked, grinning.

"Tomorrow morning," Blaine repeated happily, a smile only for Kurt as he left the room.

"Boy, why aren't you two together yet?" Mercedes asked, shuffling her position on the couch to face her best friend.

Kurt sighed. He'd asked himself the same question just the other day once Blaine had left the shop. Some days he was so sure Blaine wanted something more between them and then others, doubt clouded his mind and he convinced himself that Blaine was just mucking around.

"I don't know," Kurt said honestly before snapping back to reality. "Anyway, this sleepover is about Rachel." Kurt turned to his friend and took her hands in his. "How are you feeling?"

Smiling at Kurt, Rachel shrugged. "Okay I guess. At least they're not flaunting their relationship in my face."

"If it helps everyone knows you're better for Finn than her," Mercedes put in, choosing not to dare utter Quinn's name. "You guys will obviously end up together."

Rachel sighed sadly. "Yeah, that's what I tell myself a lot of the time but then what if we don't? It's not like Finn is exactly acting interested."

Kurt raised his hand to silence Rachel and to indicate it was his turn to speak. "Actually, Quinn came over this morning and Finn brought you up no less than sixteen times." Rachel perked up at this news but the crestfallen expression was still on her face. "Clearly he's not over you."

Rachel simply shrugged, still looking sad.

Kurt grinned at her, remembering something to add. "Oh and Quinn's face was priceless. She was _not _impressed."

The very startings of a smile were on Rachel's face before she looked at her two best friends and burst out laughing. And just like that her mood was lifted for the remainder of the sleepover.

For once, Blaine wasn't brought up all night. Instead the topics revolved around Finn and Sam. Kurt felt a sense of relief at no longer being in the spotlight. Still, that didn't mean he was looking any less forward to seeing Blaine that next morning. He may have in fact rushed his moisturising routine to get to the kitchen earlier.

A slight disappointment settled in his stomach when he walked into the room to find it empty. He checked the clock once more.

7am.

That was when they'd agreed. Then again, Blaine could've thought Kurt had just been joking.

Telling himself to stop stressing about stupid things like this, Kurt sat down and opened his magazine. He got one page in before he heard footsteps.

"Hi," Blaine said, hair a curly mess without his usual gel to tame it.

"Hi," Kurt repeated with a smile, placing his magazine flat on the table to show Blaine he had his full attention.

"Thought I'd dress up for the occasion this time," Blaine joked, falling into the chair across from Kurt, "And by dress up I mean wear a shirt."

Kurt chuckled, secretly wishing Blaine hadn't gone to the trouble.

Smiles were exchanged whilst Kurt built up the courage to say what had plagued his mind the night before.

"Uh, sorry about Rachel last night," Kurt apologized, looking at Blaine sincerely. "She was kind of rude. And none of us would've really minded if you'd stayed. It's just Mercedes and Sam are a bit of a sensitive topic and-"

"It's fine," Blaine cut in. "It was stupid of me to just think I was suddenly a part of the sleepover or something."

There was almost an air of sadness to Blaine's words that made Kurt frown. "Hey, don't be like that. If it makes you feel any better _I _wanted you to stay."

Kurt held Blaine's gaze, anxiously waiting for his reaction. The older boy grinned, instantly cheering up.

"That does make me feel better," Blaine said honestly, all the while directing that dazzling smile at Kurt.

"Do you want a drink or something?" Blaine asked, suddenly remembering they were in his kitchen and he should be playing dutiful host. "Coffee, tea, juice?"

Pondering the options, Kurt settled on asking for water.

"Sorry to be bland," he joked, "It's just I can't stomach coffee that isn't _real _coffee."

Blaine arched an eyebrow.

"I mean, nothing against the coffee-making skills I'm sure you have," Kurt rambled, very aware of Blaine's amused gaze on him, "But my caffeine must be properly made."

Nodding his understanding and holding back a chuckle, Blaine poured Kurt a glass of water and made himself a green tea before settling back into his seat.

Kurt took the water with a smile, their fingers brushing lightly as the glass was moved from Blaine's hand to Kurt's.

"So what did you get up to last night once Rachel kicked you out of your own living room?" Kurt asked, sipping on his drink before adding, "If you don't mind me asking, of course."

"Honestly?" Blaine thought back to his night and couldn't help but laugh. "I did nothing. You're now realising just how interesting I am, I'm sure."

Kurt held back a giggle as Blaine continued.

"I considered watching the third 'High School Musical', don't laugh I'm being serious, but ended up wasting time on the internet and procrastinating my assignment instead."

"Oh, that's right, you're in college," Kurt remembered, feeling stupid for forgetting, "You're majoring in music, aren't you?"

Blaine nodded and took a swig of his tea.

"What is it that you want to do when you grow up?" Kurt asked, eager to learn more about Blaine. He loved feeling as if he knew things about the boy that nobody else did. It meant he was trusted. He hoped that as they got closer, Blaine could maybe even see him as someone to confide his deepest hopes and fears in.

Kurt was the kind of person who would guard that knowledge with his life.

"That statement implies that I'll grow up at some point," Blaine replied, causing Kurt to hide a smile. "I'm not so sure I ever will. But when I leave college I want to work in the music industry. I haven't figured it all out yet and I know that could sound unrealistic but hey, it beats my silly, secret dream of wanting to be a famous musician, doesn't it?"

The way that Blaine made that sound so impossible caused Kurt to frown.

"Who says you can't achieve that?" Kurt asked, unconsciously leaning closer to Blaine as he tried to get him to believe that he could do this. "I've heard you sing. You were _great,_ and I'm not just saying that."

Blaine beamed at the compliment but shook his head to show he didn't agree.

"Rachel's told me you're amazing at guitar too," Kurt continued, hoping to one day hear Blaine play. "And she says you write your own stuff. If you've got the talent I don't see why you couldn't reach that goal."

Amazed at how inspired he suddenly felt to actually aim for what he desperately wanted in life, Blaine smiled at the boy sitting in front of him.

"You truly are something, Kurt," Blaine said, practically in awe of the one person who had bothered to try and encourage him to chase his dreams.

A smile on his lips, Kurt looked at Blaine curiously.

"Something bad?" Kurt teased and Blaine just grinned as he shook his head.

"No, something good. Something really good."

After a while of talking, Blaine asked Kurt what he'd wanted to know since last night.

"So, did you drive here?"

"Yeah…" Kurt responded, wondering what Blaine was getting at.

"Well, I think I need to see your car. And I think you need to name it," Blaine replied, already standing up, ready to leave.

"Blaine, it's 8 o'clock in the morning. I'm not going outside now! And I'm _not _naming my car," Kurt said resolutely.

Blaine shrugged, walking closer to Kurt. "Fine. Suit yourself." He grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him up before tugging him towards the front door, all the while Kurt protesting.

Once they were outside Blaine dropped Kurt's hand, both missing the contact immediately. Kurt had to admit it had felt really nice holding hands with Blaine, even if it had been more of an exertion of brute force than a romantic caress.

They walked over to Kurt's navigator and Blaine whistled in approval.

"Nice."

Kurt smiled. "Thanks. She's my baby."

"She?" Blaine repeated, "See, use of pronouns, you're half way to naming her."

Kurt just rolled his eyes. "You realise you're a crazy person, right?"

Blaine looked at Kurt like he was the one who was insane. "Of course."

There was silence for a few moments whilst Blaine looked at Kurt expectantly.

"What?"

"Name her!" Blaine urged, nudging Kurt closer to his car. "If you don't, I'll call the poor thing Beatrice or something equally awful."

Sighing and finally giving in, Kurt considered names that he could live with for his car.

"How about, uhh," Kurt screwed up his face at the fact that he was doing this, "GaGa?"

Blaine burst out laughing and Kurt grinned.

"I can put up with that name," Kurt allowed, still smiling at Blaine's unimpressed but amused expression.

"That is a ridiculous name. No. Try again."

"Hey!" Kurt protested, hands on hips, "I said I'd name my car and I have!"

"But GaGa sucks!"

"Agnes sucks!" Kurt shot back in a defensive tone.

They both glared at each other for a second before bursting out laughing again.

"God, we're ridiculous," Blaine chuckled.

"We really are," Kurt agreed.

Rachel and Mercedes woke up much too soon for either boy's liking, halting their conversation.

Everyone had a late breakfast and before they knew it, Kurt had to leave. He was dropping Mercedes home too so they both thanked Rachel and Blaine's Dads for having them before they hugged Rachel goodbye.

When Kurt went to say goodbye to Blaine, Blaine drew him into an embrace without even thinking about it.

It was awkward, mostly because Kurt wasn't expecting it, but then he was hugging Blaine back and enjoying the strong, secure arms wrapped around him. Blaine had a mini panic attack at his impulsive actions before Kurt melted into the hug and he sighed in relief, holding Kurt closer than he probably should have.

Rachel coughed after a few moments and Mercedes giggled as they pulled apart, smiling and then avoiding each other's glances.

Rachel and Blaine stood on their front porch whilst Kurt and Mercedes clambered into Kurt's navigator.

"Even if you had selfish motives, thank-you for convincing me to have this sleepover," Rachel said, slipping an arm around her brother's waist as she waved her best friends goodbye.

Once Kurt's car, or _GaGa _as Blaine weirdly kept calling it, turned the corner Rachel smiled at Blaine. "You were right. They're great friends. I'm very lucky."

Blaine grinned in return. "_Very _lucky. You also have the best brother."

Rachel rolled her eyes before pulling him into a quick, tight hug. "Modest, too."

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><p><strong>AN:<strong>

**_asiriuslygleefulstarkid:_ Hahah I laughed reading your review. I cannot picture it now. I have no idea why I wrote that word to describe him walking over :P**

**_CrazyLikeaFox:_ I'm glad you like the title, it was intentional for it to sound like F.R.I.E.N.D.S - one of the best shows ever :)**

**_Phictionmaker7_: No promises for when there will be Klaine action, but I'm thinking chapter 10 will be the one that something big Klaine-related happens. I know that seems forever away and I apologise but please stick with it :) also this fic will only be like 12 chapters long anyway so :)**

**_HonokaHana:_ To be honest I agree with you there. Darren is an AMAZING singer but I have no idea if he could hit that note or not. I'd like to hear him give it a go :) in the fic Blaine was just mucking around with Rachel though, not siging 100% in tune.**

**Thanks again for all your lovely reviews. I love hearing your thoughts so continue to review :) X**


	6. Chapter 6

"Don't say anything," Kurt warned as Mercedes and he walked to his navigator, fully aware of Blaine and Rachel's gazes on them.

Once they were safely inside the car, out of earshot of the Anderberrys, Kurt grinned at Mercedes who let out an excited squeal.

"Ohmygosh, Kurt! Ohmygosh!"

"I know!"

"Just ask him out already!"

"No, it was just a hug!"

"A hug, though. _A hug_!"

Mercedes began bouncing in her seat in excitement and Kurt shot her a glare.

"Shh, act normal, they can still see us," Kurt whispered.

They both waved to Rachel and Blaine before the car turned out of their street. Then the real flailing and freaking out began.

"So, what was it like?" Mercedes asked eagerly, earning an eye roll from Kurt.

"What, the hug?"

Mercedes nodded emphatically.

"It was like a hug?" Kurt tried to tone down his excitement and Mercedes just stared at him blankly before he thought _screw it_ and began gushing. "Blaine's arms are really toned, like I thought they were strong before but it felt _so _good to be wrapped up in them. And the fact that he's one of those people that like _squeezes _before letting go, I just wanted to hug him forever," Kurt admitted, turning pink as he realised how much he'd just revealed.

Mercedes listened on, growing more and more excited for her best friend.

Kurt sighed. "It's gotta mean something, right? I mean, you don't just hug someone you don't like."

"My point exactly!"

"But I hugged Rachel goodbye too, like obviously _we're _just friends…"

Mercedes groaned. "Can you stop analysing this and just ask him out?" she practically begged.

"I'm not gonna ask him out when I don't know if he wants a relationship or not!" Kurt cried, wondering if Mercedes was mentally unstable for suggesting such an idea. "I'll look like a fool if he says no!"

"For goodness sake, you both suck!"

At school later that week, Kurt joined Rachel at her locker putting her books away and humming the tune of _Funny Girl_.

"You can tell your brother his car will be ready for him to pick up tomorrow," Kurt said proudly, happy that he'd managed to fix it so quickly. He was also looking forward to their supposed 'lunch non-date' that could follow Blaine collecting his car. But that wasn't why Kurt was practically shaking with excitement as he told Rachel this news, no, not at all…

"Thanks Kurt, I'll tell him. That was really quick," Rachel shot Kurt a suggestive look, a grin stuck to her face. "I hope he thanks you properly."

Kurt rolled his eyes and pretended to not be thrilled by the idea.

It was about five the next afternoon when Blaine dawdled into the shop. Kurt had chosen his best overalls to wear that day, glad that he had notice this time that Blaine was dropping by. He'd styled his hair to its usual perfection and made sure he was grease-free.

His efforts were well received as Blaine caught sight of Kurt and decided that the boy was actually flawless in every single way. He also realised that he didn't have a thing for mechanics…just for Kurt.

Offering Blaine a grin as he approached, Kurt stood up and gestured towards Blaine's car. "Here she is. As good as new."

Blaine grinned back, looking over 'Agnes' with almost wonder.

"Thank-you so much," Blaine said genuinely before turning to smile at Kurt. "I just paid Burt for the parts but he said you refused to be compensated for your manual labour."

Kurt shrugged. "It was nothing. Besides, I thought we had a deal? Lunch to repay me for being so surprisingly amazing at fixing cars?"

Blaine grinned, so glad that Kurt hadn't forgotten and that he actually seemed excited by the idea.

"Ahh, so you fix my car and in return want to spend some quality time with the one and only Blaine Anderson." Blaine had a silly grin still plastered to his face as Kurt hid an equally silly smile and nodded. "That seems like a fair trade."

"My thoughts exactly," Kurt replied, not missing a beat. "So, are you free tomorrow?"

Blaine smiled at Kurt's keenness. "Sure am. There's this coffee shop called The Lima Bean. It hasn't got full-on meals but there's a huge range of delicious desserts and I've got a real sweet tooth so we could have like a dessert-lunch?"

Blaine eyed Kurt warily, worried he'd be against the idea but Kurt seemed thrilled with it

"That sounds lovely."

Kurt smiled as he thought of sharing coffee with Blaine, something that would feel much more intimate than a morning conversation at a sleepover.

They agreed on a time to meet tomorrow and a smile was exchanged. The words _it's a date _were on the tip of Kurt's tongue but he luckily swallowed them and responded much more appropriately. "Sounds like a plan."

Like every Saturday, Kurt awoke early the next morning for his moisturising schedule. He took extra special care of his skin this time because of his date with Blaine.

_No_, Kurt reminded himself, _not a date. Just friends. A friend-date. No, that doesn't work either. A catch-up?_

As he looked himself over in the mirror Kurt sighed, wishing he could refer to their lunch as a date.

Whenever Kurt slept over at Rachel's he would spend an even longer time than usual deliberating an outfit. He wanted something casual that made it seem like he hadn't tried too hard but also showed that he cared about his appearance. Plus it had to look good. Kurt Hummel never stepped out in anything less than flattering.

Today was no different as he spent a good half hour looking through his wardrobe and mixing and matching outfits. He eventually settled on his favourite pair of skinnys, a three-quarter length shirt and a simple vest.

Before leaving, Kurt ventured into the kitchen, practically fearing for his life as Finn was attempting to make pancakes that morning - under Carole's supervision, thank goodness.

"Told you that kid liked you," Burt commented when Kurt told him where he was off to for the day.

"It's not a date," Kurt said, more to convince himself than his dad. The only response he got was a non-committal grunt.

"Wait, if you date Rachel's brother doesn't that make you and me brothers-in-law?" Finn asked, forgetting to watch the frying pan for a second as he considered this, resulting in burnt pancakes.

"Finn, you're with Quinn now, remember. And it's not a date!" Kurt repeated, hoping if he said it enough his heart would stop thumping so fast.

They'd agreed to meet at midday so at 11:30 Kurt climbed into the driver's seat of GaGa, cursing Blaine for getting him in the habit of calling his car by its silly name.

He arrived at The Lima Bean fifteen minutes before twelve but Kurt had planned it that way. He hated being late for things and found it of the utmost rudeness to do so. He just hoped Blaine shared this hatred and wouldn't leave Kurt sitting at his table for too long.

Kurt needn't have worried, he walked into the coffee shop to see Blaine already seated at a corner table, a drink in hand. The smile working its way onto Kurt's face really couldn't be helped as he walked over to Blaine.

"Hi," he said, hating the way he almost sounded nervous. This was new territory. They'd only ever really hung out at sleepovers and Kurt had no idea how he should act.

A grin wider than Kurt's spread across Blaine's face as he greeted the taller boy. "Hey! How are you?"

"I'm good thanks and yourself?"

"I'm great now." Blaine smiled and briefly looked down at his hands that were clasped around his drink. "Oh, sorry, I would've gotten you a coffee but I know how particular you are about your caffeine." Blaine's tone was teasing and Kurt couldn't help but chuckle as he felt himself becoming more comfortable in this setting. It was just Blaine after all, nothing different but the smell of fresh coffee lingering in the air.

"I must've come across like the coffee Nazi," Kurt joked, remembering the conversation in which he'd told Blaine how he only liked _real caffeine._

Blaine's eyes twinkled as he chuckled too. "A little. But it's okay, it was kinda cute."

And just like that Kurt's heart was beating super fast again.

Ducking his head slightly to avoid Blaine's eyes, Kurt hid a smile. "I'll go get my coffee, okay? Did you want anything? I'm hungry so I'll probably have a piece of cheesecake or something."

Blaine shook his head as he stood up and Kurt got to appreciate the fact that Blaine had also chosen to wear tight jeans today. "Nuh-uh, I'm paying. This is me thanking you for fixing my car, after all."

Kurt tried to protest but Blaine wouldn't let up so they walked to the counter together, chatting about inconsequential topics until they reached the front of the line. Kurt ordered a non-fat mocha, a slice of the blueberry cheesecake and a cookie he saw Blaine eyeing off for them to split.

When they returned to their table Blaine was telling Kurt about his sudden motivation to write more music and how thankful he was for the pep talk Kurt had given him.

"You have no idea how much you've inspired me," Blaine said as sipped on his drink. "I've written like 3 songs since that sleepover and I must say they're not complete shit!"

Kurt grinned, delighted he'd apparently instilled Blaine with the confidence he needed. "I'm so glad! See, I told you that you were talented enough to do this!"

Blaine smiled and shrugged at the compliment. "Thanks but just because I write mediocre songs doesn't mean I'll make it in the music industry."

"Look, at least you know what you want to do with your life and have ambition," Kurt said, taking a sip of his coffee and a bite of his cheesecake before continuing. "I feel so bad for those who don't. Take Finn for instance, I've got no idea what he wants to do when he's older and I don't think he has any clue either."

Blaine took a moment to respond so Kurt drank more of his coffee, waiting for Blaine to break out of his almost-daze.

"Do you think Finn loves her?" Blaine asked abruptly and Kurt raised his eyebrows at the impromptu question.

"Who, Quinn? Uhh, I think he might love her but not be _in _love with her, you know, but-"

"No…I meant Rachel." Blaine sighed, thinking of the sight that had left him that morning: Rachel crying over Finn again. It absolutely broke his heart each time he watched his sister experience pain. He just needed to know if Finn felt even a smidgen of what Rachel so obviously felt for him.

Kurt smiled, not even having to think about it for a second. "Yes. I think he does. I think he's just confused."

Blaine nodded, totally understanding that love made you do stupid things.

"I have no doubt in my mind that they're meant to be though," Kurt said honestly. "I mean sure, Finn switches between Quinn and Rach more often than I change outfits and Rachel will have to work out whether her career or love mean more to her but they're soul mates. It's just this connection you have with someone from the beginning, you know?"

Blaine nodded.

He knew.

Time flew as they chatted about anything and everything, spending a particularly long time discussing music and high school. It was funny how comfortable they both felt talking about absolutely anything with each other. Kurt wondered if he'd ever had such a quick connection with someone. Even with Rachel and Mercedes their conversations would inevitably die out but Kurt knew he could talk to Blaine all day and not get bored.

Unfortunately they couldn't do that, as Kurt had to be home by 5 to start dinner so at 4:30 their conversation wrapped up.

Just as they got up to leave, Blaine spotted a familiar head of hair and hastily turned to go but wasn't quite in time.

"Blaine!" Sebastian called, walking over to them with a boyfriend in tow. The desperation in which Sebastian was clutching this guy's hand made Blaine think that maybe he felt he had something to prove.

"Hi Sebastian," Blaine said in a fake cheery tone, refusing to be anything but polite, "How have you been?"

"I've been amazing, thank-you." To overemphasise what was_ amazing_ in his life Sebastian squeezed his boyfriend's hand and smiled at him. Blaine took comfort in the fact that the guy's smile in return didn't quite meet his eyes. And why would it if he was stuck dating Sebastian?

Kurt's eyes flickered between Sebastian and Blaine as he tried to figure out the history there. Noticing Kurt's confusion, Blaine leaned closer to him and whispered, "My asshole ex."

Kurt nodded his understanding before turning back to the guy in front of him, fighting the urge to glare. By the sounds of things this jerk had broke Blaine's heart and just for that Kurt wanted to bitch slap him.

"Oh, how rude of me," Sebastian said, looking at the guy next to him as if hadn't just been ogling him and had in fact just realised he was there. "This is my boyfriend, Gavin." Sebastian gestured to the boy attached to his hand and Kurt couldn't help but note how uncomfortable Gavin looked. "We've been dating for six glorious months." The voice Sebastian put on was so sickly sweet it made Kurt want to hurl. Blaine's thoughts matched Kurt's as he tried hard to smile back, though it resembled more of a grimace.

"That's great," Blaine responded, wishing he were anywhere but here. Just as he was about to make an excuse and leave, Sebastian asked the one thing Blaine knew he would. If only he had a better answer.

"How about you, dating anyone at the moment?" Sebastian's voice was thick with amusement as if he already predicted Blaine would say no.

What Blaine and Sebastian couldn't predict was Kurt Hummel. Blaine covered his shock well when Kurt just smiled at Blaine before lacing their fingers together.

"Just go with it," he whispered and once Blaine recovered from the surprise he squeezed Kurt's hand in thanks and turned back to Sebastian.

"Yes, actually, this is Kurt," Blaine said proudly, wishing he could actually introduce Kurt as his boyfriend.

Sebastian was clearly surprised, having expected Blaine to still be single but he covered his shock quickly and forced the fakest smile Kurt had ever seen on a person. "How nice," he said in a tone that implied the opposite, "It's sweet that you've found someone who's happy to date a hobbit."

The way that Sebastian said the insult made it seem like a harmless remark but Blaine knew better. Oh, how he wanted to punch Sebastian right there and then but knew it was hardly the place to do so. Back when they'd dated Sebastian had teased Blaine about his height constantly and whilst it had been cute to begin with after a while it just stung.

Kurt bit his lip, contemplating if he should say something or not before deciding he would. He barely knew this Sebastian guy but he'd seen enough to hate him and want to knock him down a peg or two.

Smiling a genuine smile, Kurt turned to Blaine and looked at him with the most loving gaze he could manage – though it wasn't exactly hard considering his true feelings. "I think Blaine's height is cute. It means he has to stand on tippy-toes to kiss me which I think," hamming it up, Kurt lightly tapped Blaine's nose with his forefinger, "is adorable."

Blaine grinned, looking at Kurt with the most grateful expression as Sebastian scoffed.

"Right. So adorable dating a dwarf." If the anger in his eyes hadn't done so, Sebastian's tone would have given away just how irritated he was that this exchange wasn't going his way. "Anyway I've gotta go. Nice seeing you Blaine."

And with that he left, pulling his boyfriend with him.

Blaine instantly turned to Kurt and smiled, holding back a laugh. "I can't believe you did that for me. Thank-you."

"It's no problem," Kurt replied, returning the smile.

At the same time both boys realised they were still holding hands. They dropped each other's like they'd been burnt and blushed slightly.

Kurt cleared his throat before peering at Blaine. "So…may I ask what the story is there?"

Blaine figured Kurt deserved an explanation after the show that Sebastian had just put on. If he was being honest with himself he'd also say he wanted to tell Kurt because he loved the feeling of putting trust in him.

So for those reasons Blaine began retelling the story of his most recent relationship, hating Sebastian all over again as he did so.

"Well, we dated for almost a year and to begin with, Sebastian was sweet and just the kind of guy I wanted to be with. Then after a while I discovered who he really was, a complete asshole, and I was ready to break it off. That was before I discovered that Sebastian had been cheating on me."

Kurt rolled his eyes but nodded, showing he was listening intently.

"So I confronted him about it, said I didn't want to be in the relationship anymore in the slightest but he simply laughed and said _he _was the one who was ending the relationship and on his terms." Blaine laughed humourlessly. "Effectively I got dumped by someone I didn't view as my boyfriend anymore. It was weird, and really childish, but oh well I'm just glad he's not in my life anymore."

Noting a few people's stares, Blaine decided the middle of a coffee shop might not be the best place to tell this story. He directed Kurt out of the café and across the parking lot as he continued talking.

"Today was the first time I've seen him since. I guess because he viewed himself as having dumped me he felt like he had to show just how _happily in love _he is without me. Shame the guy looked like he was being held at gun-point just to hold Sebastian's hand."

Kurt took in everything Blaine had just told him, enjoying the feeling that came with Blaine trusting him.

And then he just felt angry.

"God, he sounds like a douche."

Blaine burst out laughing at the way Kurt said the words that were mulling around in Blaine's thoughts too.

"Yep, he was – is. But it's okay, I've got a much better fake boyfriend now," Blaine said with a grin, bumping Kurt's hip with his. His eyes locked on Kurt's and the taller boy wondered if he would actually die if his heart beat any faster.

"Uhh, Kurt?" Blaine asked a moment later from a few metres away, a look of amusement on his face. Kurt realised he'd just stopped moving all together because of Blaine's comment. God, could he embarrass himself anymore than that?

"Right, sorry!" Kurt apologized, feeling his face redden as he hurried to catch up with Blaine. Blaine just chuckled and offered him a grin.

They reached Kurt's car and both did the awkward smile and wave as they said goodbye.

Blaine wanted to hug Kurt again, he did, but he worried what with pretending to be dating this afternoon that it might be a bit much. He didn't want to push Kurt away, after all he still wasn't sure Kurt was 100% interested considering Blaine was the one always doing the shameless flirting. So instead of a hug Blaine offered Kurt a genuine smile as he said 'bye' once more.

Kurt had to admit he was a bit disappointed that Blaine had chosen a verbal goodbye instead of wrapping him up in an embrace but decided it was for the better. This meant he could finally make a first move instead of being the one to always flirt back.

In two strides Kurt walked to Blaine and pulled him into a hug. It was a little unsure as Kurt worried Blaine wouldn't return the hug but of course he did, holding Kurt tighter than he'd held Blaine.

"Today was fun," Blaine said honestly once they'd broken apart.

Kurt nodded in agreement. "It really was." He took a deep breath before saying the words that almost got stuck in his throat at fear of rejection. "We should do it again sometime."

"Definitely," Blaine replied instantly, easing Kurt's anxiety. "I'll seeya next sleepover?" Blaine asked with a grin as he walked backwards, giving himself more time to look at Kurt and drown in his eyes.

"Absolutely!"

They shared one more smile before Blaine waved and turned to walk away, leaving Kurt on cloud nine.

Blaine felt a similar euphoria when he reached his car, not being able to hide the grin spreading across his face.

For the first time both boys felt like maybe they were on the same page when it came to their feelings for each other.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hope you all liked this chapter :) Man, I hate Sebastian! I don't really feel like I did the bitchiness and sleaziness of his character justice but oh well. As always your reviews make me smile so drop a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter :) X<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Super quick update! Are you guys proud? I hope so :) Hope you enjoy this chapter :) X**

* * *

><p>It wasn't deliberate but suddenly it just became the norm for sleepovers to be held at Rachel's. Everyone just preferred it that way. Rachel and Mercedes loved seeing the growth between Blaine and Kurt, Blaine loved spending more time with Kurt and Kurt just loved getting to see Blaine – sleep ruffled ideally.<p>

The morning chats between the two boys became a habit that both enjoyed thoroughly and were a huge perk of having the sleepovers at Rachel's each time. Neither made a move to take their relationship to the next level but they were both okay with this, content with the shameless flirting, at least for now. All the while they got closer and there was an increased feeling that this was leading somewhere.

Blaine told himself he had a plan. When things felt right he knew exactly what he'd say to Kurt about his feelings. That didn't make him any less nervous about it, of course, but he was confident that when the right time arose he would be ready.

Regionals for the New Directions came up quickly after their inevitable win at Sectionals. This year Mr Schue was more determined than ever. So many students in the club were seniors and he wanted them to take Nationals as it was their last chance. They deserved it, after all.

Kurt and Rachel spent a lot of time discussing song choices and ideas to suggest to the club that could give them an extra edge for the competition. When it came around to actually choosing songs the group were unanimous about whose voices they wanted featured at Regionals.

After a crazy amount of practise that nearly drove each of them to insanity, the day arrived and New Directions were ready.

Kurt had never felt more nervous about a competition than this one. If they blew this it was all over. This was his last chance to prove he was good enough, to prove he could do this with his life, that he could achieve his dream.

His whole body shook slightly and his heart thumped in his chest as he waited to go on stage.

Rachel was by his side doing breathing exercises and a relaxation routine of her own. She turned to her best friend with the widest grin on her face as she pulled him into her arms for a bone-crushing hug. Kurt returned it just as enthusiastically.

"Kurt, you know I hate sharing the spotlight but with you I don't mind," Rachel whispered and Kurt held her tighter, fighting back tears of joy. Although he was anxious he had never felt happier than he did now.

"Oh, Rachel, that means a lot," Kurt murmured, hoping his voice wouldn't give away just how much it meant to him.

"I love you, Kurt."

"Love you too, Rach…Now let's kill this."

Taking one last deep breath and calming himself, Kurt walked on stage, Rachel in tow. They turned to each other and smiled. And then the music began.

Kurt had been shocked back when everyone had suggested a duet between him and Rachel. It was, of course, what he'd wanted for so long, to at least get a smidgen of the spotlight for once. He was so touched that his friends wanted this for him too.

Of course, Rachel and Kurt were amazing. Their rendition of _For Good _was near perfect and the applause that followed was thundering.

Kurt looked out into the crowd and the first person he saw was his Dad. Clapping as if his life depended on it, Burt looked beyond proud. A few tears leaked from his eyes, not that he ever would have admitted it, as he looked up at his son.

The next person Kurt noticed was Blaine. Both of Rachel's Dads were next to him and all three were standing, clapping like mad and _whoop_ing every few seconds. Kurt's grin grew wider as Blaine caught his eye and smiled, mouthing '_Encore._'

The applause just kept on going and for once Kurt felt like his talent was appreciated.

The next two songs the New Directions performed were upbeat group numbers that had the audience on their feet. They all sang their hearts out, genuine smiles on their faces throughout the entire performance and by the end, everyone felt they'd done their best.

Then came the waiting.

Everyone anxiously sat backstage, wishing they would be called on stage already for the results. Rachel and Kurt had their hands linked as they sat in silence.

Mr Schue had originally been talking non-stop, congratulating everyone on their efforts, especially Kurt and Rachel, and saying how it would be a complete injustice if they didn't come first. However all this talk made everyone even more nervous than they already were so he paced quietly instead.

After what felt like hours, but had only been an agonizing thirty minutes, they were ushered back onto the stage to hear the results. Rachel clutched Kurt's hand tightly and his other hand took Mercedes' as they waited to hear their names.

"And the glee club that will be going to Nationals is…"

Time stopped.

Silence.

Kurt held his two best friends' hands even tighter.

"…the New Directions!"

Cries of joy erupted from the group as the audience applauded the right decision. Kurt and Rachel were both tearing up as it sunk in that they _were _good enough.

Last year they'd won Regionals too and that had felt fantastic but this felt ten times better. Kurt's voice had been heard for once and it hadn't hindered them, it had _helped them win._

Nothing could feel better than this.

"Kurt, you never told me you were _that _good at signing!" Blaine said as soon as the teenagers poured out of the auditorium to meet their parents.

Kurt smiled, not that he'd ever stopped since the announcement of the results, and walked towards Blaine to accept the hug he was offering in congratulations. "Thank-you, I mean I'm not _amazing_, but yeah, pretty good," Kurt said cheekily.

Blaine grinned as his eyes flickered to where his sister stood with Finn, out of earshot.

"I certainly didn't know you were better than Ms. Rachel Berry," he whispered and Kurt looked alarmed.

"Don't say that too loud, it's like against the law or something," he joked in a serious tone and Blaine laughed.

"Kurt!" Carole all but squealed as she and Burt walked over to congratulate him. "You were _amazing_, honey, _amazing_!"

"I knew you could sing, kiddo, but that was something else," Burt said, pulling his son into a hug, clapping him on the back when they broke apart.

Kurt smiled once more at Blaine before he was dragged away by his family to discuss the evening's festivities. Naturally, Burt suggested Breadstix – which Finn was more than happy with – and that seemed the go until Blaine and Rachel had another idea.

Kurt had always been wary of Rachel uttering the words 'party at my place' since what was known as the Rachel Berry House Party Train-Wreck Extravaganza of twenty-ten. However today he was too excited to care in the slightest.

Rachel convinced her Dads to go out to dinner for the night and let them have free reign of the basement again. They were unaware of the disaster that was last year's party so they agreed, promising that when they got home they wouldn't dare venture into the basement. If only they knew the mayhem that would unfold that night.

Blaine had also missed Rachel's party last year, having been boarding at Dalton then, and was eager to see if it lived up to the madness he'd been told about it.

Everyone quickly checked with parents that they could go before stopping off at home to change and heading over to the Anderberry's.

Rachel didn't ask how but Puck showed up with huge amounts of alcohol. Normally Rachel would've been against drinking anything but this was a celebration! Nationals! And they might actually win! So tonight was the exception and Rachel found herself drinking more than she probably should have. But she wasn't alone. Within two hours everyone bar Blaine was smashed and it showed.

Dancing became mandatory and everyone was on the dance floor either grinding or doing dorky disco moves to whatever came next on Rachel's iPod. After a while the music didn't matter in the slightest and people kept moving spasmodically even when a recorded version of 'My Headband' started playing.

Kurt was never this confident around Blaine when he was sober but the alcohol had made dancing with him seem like the smartest idea at present. He was moving his hips in a _very _distracting way and Blaine just knew not drinking much tonight had been a good idea. If he had who knows what could have happened. Knowing him he would've blurted out his feelings for Kurt in a totally unromantic way and everything would've gone to hell.

Not that Kurt didn't already know how Blaine felt, he'd been very forward, but there were a few things he wanted to say before they got together. So for this reason Blaine had only had a few sips of his drink before switching it for water and enjoying the party mostly sober.

Tomorrow he would talk to Kurt.

Tomorrow.

After what felt like hours of wild dancing, someone suggested a game of Truth or Dare which everyone loudly agreed to besides from Tina and Mike who had been making out in the corner for the past half hour.

Everyone assembled into a circle and Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and pulled him to sit next to him. Blaine smiled and squeezed Kurt's hand before placing it back in Kurt's lap.

"Me first, me first!" Rachel cried like an excited child. "Mercedes, truth or dare?"

Mercedes eyed her carefully. "You know all my secrets so if I choose truth you'll just make me admit something to the whole group that I don't want to. So dare."

Rachel grinned like this was just what she'd hoped for.

"Make out with Sam," Rachel dared, enjoying the mix of embarrassment and delight on her friend's face.

Mercedes turned to Sam who was on her right and before she could say anything he launched himself at her. Lips moved against each other whilst people let out cat calls. Eventually they had to be pulled apart when neither made any indication of slowing down.

Slightly out of breath, Mercedes looked to Tina on the other side of the room and hollered her question.

"Tina, is it true what they say about Asian guys?"

Tina removed herself from Mike's arms for a second to call back. "I told you, I'm not playing. But no, not true."

Everyone sniggered and Mike grinned triumphantly before Tina reattached their mouths.

"Right, my turn," Santana declared and everyone's attention moved to her. "Puckerman, truth or dare?"

"Like there's anything I haven't done! Truth."

"Alright...how many women have you slept with?"

"Uh, 10," he responded and the whole group let out amused reactions. Puck just shrugged as if he hadn't been exaggerating that number all year by _a lot_.

Half an hour later and Kurt had discovered many _many _things about his friends' sex lives or their deepest, darkest secrets, which had been amusing but none of them he'd actually cared to know.

That is until it was Puck's turn again and he picked Blaine as the next victim.

"Alright, I'll ask the male hobbit, truth or dare?"

Weighing up the options, Blaine decided on truth, just knowing if it were a dare he'd be asked to make out with Kurt and he'd promised himself nothing of the sort would happen until tomorrow when they were both sober.

Puck grinned devilishly as he looked at Blaine as if seizing him up. Blaine held his stare but did feel slightly intimidated.

"Do you prefer to top or bottom?"

Puck snorted at the surprised look on Blaine's face and everyone giggled as Rachel hurriedly clapped both hands over her ears and started to sing.

Kurt turned his whole body to face Blaine, suddenly looking extremely interested in Blaine's answer.

"Uhh, that would depend on who I'm with," Blaine said honestly and Puck nodded.

"What if you were with Hummel?"

Blaine almost choked. "You only get one question," Blaine replied, laughing awkwardly but then Kurt spoke and his mind just turned to mush.

"Yeah, Blaine, what if it was with me?"

Finn's eyes practically bulged out of his head at how forward Kurt was being. He looked extremely uncomfortable as he pointedly turned around and took up Rachel's position of fingers in ears to drown out the answer.

Rachel, however, had stopped singing and was looking at Blaine expectantly, very curious as to what her brother would say.

He'd be lying if Blaine said he hadn't thought about it but he was hardly gonna tell a bunch of teenagers, including_ Kurt, _his answer to that question. Still, a dozen pairs of eyes stared at him, waiting.

And then there was a loud thump and Blaine exhaled in relief. Saved by the bell. Or saved by the intoxicated girl.

Quinn had passed out on the ground, which, really, had only been a matter of time.

Thankfully this distracted everyone for a few seconds, which was long enough for Blaine to shift the attention off of him and onto someone else.

"Finn, truth or dare?"

Looking grateful for the change of topic, Finn chose truth almost exultantly.

Blaine knew he shouldn't ask it, it wasn't right, but he just had to know so he snuck one last glance at Quinn to make sure she wasn't awake and then asked Finn, "Are you in love with my sister?"

Rachel made a choked sort of noise and glared at Blaine before her gaze flickered to Finn, eyes hopeful.

"Yeah," Finn responded as if it were obvious and then he realised what he'd just said. "I mean…well, yes… Shit. I need to talk to Quinn. Quinn!"

"Sweetie, she's not up to talking," Mercedes said from Finn's right, patting him comfortingly on the knee.

"Yeah, I recommend you wait 'til tomorrow," Sam added, bursting out laughing as if what he'd said had been hilarious and Finn nodded.

Moments later Rachel practically catapulted herself at Finn and he opened his arms just in time to catch the eager girl.

"I love you too, Finn, I always have and I _knew _you loved me back, I _knew _you did," she babbled and Finn looked almost terrified at what his admission had caused but he held Rachel close anyway.

Then he turned back to Blaine. "Fine, Blaine, if we're asking those kinds of questions, are you in love with my brother?"

"Dude, you're supposed to ask _someone else_ a question," Puck said but Finn shook his head.

"I'm asking Blaine. Seriously, are you in love with Kurt?"

Blaine smiled at all the eager faces that he knew were ready to support him and Kurt when they decided to get together. They all genuinely wanted what was best for them both so for that reason Blaine answered truthfully.

"Not quite," he chuckled, smiling quickly at Kurt before looking back to Finn. "But almost."

Kurt could've sworn his heart actually flew out of his chest in excitement.

Blaine almost loved him.

God, did he want to tell Blaine he felt the exact same. That he'd fallen a little bit more in love with him each sleepover at Rachel's and how he just wanted them to be together more than anything.

How he wanted to reach over right now and kiss him senseless.

How he wanted to discover first-hand Blaine's answer to the question Puck had asked him.

But by the time Kurt opened his mouth to speak they had already moved on. Brittany was preparing to do body-shots off of Santana and everyone was giggling as they watched but Blaine kept sneaking glances at Kurt.

He was worried. He'd practically declared his love for Kurt. What if it was too much? Oh well, Kurt was drunk and Blaine doubted he'd remember the next day, which, ironically, was exactly why he'd wanted to hold off on expressions of feelings.

The game of Truth or Dare disbanded pretty quickly after that when everyone decided they needed more alcohol and just wanted to dance. Blaine was relieved, feeling he dodged a bullet considering he hadn't been forced to admit much.

Blaine flopped on the couch, suddenly feeling exhausted as bodies continued to gyrate around the room. Moments later Kurt joined him, sitting much closer than he would have if there was no alcohol in his system.

"Did you mean it?" Kurt asked, looking at Blaine with hopeful eyes. "You really like me that much?"

Blaine sighed. Of course he did. But he really didn't want to have this conversation when Kurt would struggle to recall it the next morning. Couldn't they just wait 'til tomorrow?

Blaine's gaze met Kurt's and he smiled at the out of character puppy-dog eyes Kurt was showing.

"Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

Kurt felt his heart sink.

He was drunk but he knew what that meant. Blaine didn't like him that much. He hadn't meant what he'd said in truth or dare. And he just wanted to deflect the conversation to tomorrow so Kurt would forget and Blaine wouldn't have to deal with letting him down easy.

"Right, don't worry about it," Kurt replied sadly before leaving the room quickly so Blaine wouldn't see the tears already welling in his eyes.

Blaine sighed as he watched Kurt walk away. He should've at least said yes before postponing their conversation. Now he'd made it seem like he didn't like Kurt at all.

For the only sober person in the room, Blaine had made the biggest mistake.

Tears fell steadily as Kurt found Rachel's room with ease. He crawled into a ball on her bed, wishing he could just disappear.

He felt like an idiot. He'd practically thrown himself at Blaine tonight and his feelings weren't even mutual. Kurt had never felt so humiliated.

He also felt angry. How dare Blaine just lead him on like that! He _really _liked him and now the hole in his chest couldn't have felt bigger.

In his drunken state Kurt cried himself to sleep, convinced that this was the end of the world.

He awoke with a splitting headache the next morning, instantly regretting both the alcohol and the crying.

Wait, crying?

And then snippets of the night before came back and Kurt felt like sobbing all over again. He couldn't remember exactly what had happened but he knew he'd made a fool out of himself with Blaine. He also knew that Blaine wasn't interested in him and that was what really made him feel like falling back to sleep and never waking up again.

For the first time in ages, Kurt didn't meet Blaine in the kitchen for their morning conversation.

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><p><strong>AN: Please don't hate me. Please. I promise things will be better, maybe not next chapter but definitely the one after. And Chapter 10 everything will be Klaine and nothing will hurt :D<strong>

**Also I know they're at Regionals in this chapter and that's generally after Christmas but this chapter I've set to be about late October so I apologise about that. And I set BIOTA back at the end of 2010 without Blaine present of course. So there are a few changes to canon there so I apologise but then again, this fic is AU! **

_**Janitajasmin:**___** I haven't said what college Blaine is in, I'm not from America so I don't know many colleges over there, all I've said is he's majoring in music. So he might be there for 2 or 3 years? Not entirely sure at this stage. It shouldn't affect the outcome of this fic :) At this stage, this story will be 11 chapters or so. And no, no smut, sorry guys but I can't write it. Probably some implication later on but not any actual smut :)**

**Thank-you guys so much for every review, they're so kind and lovely and I love you all! **

**Let me know what you thought of this chapter :) X**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Another fast update, you guys better love me for it :P I apologise for the angsty angst of this chapter, I really didn't intend for it to be quite like this. Still, I really hope you guys like this chapter! :) X**

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><p>All Kurt knew right now was that he wanted to get out of that house, and fast as possible to avoid a conversation with Blaine. He quietly collected his stuff from the basement, glad that it was all in one corner and he didn't have to go traipsing through different rooms to find bits and pieces. Tip-toeing carefully around the few sleeping bodies who had ended up crashing on the floor, Kurt quickly headed towards the front door.<p>

He thought he'd made it too, but then footsteps and a familiar voice told him otherwise.

"Kurt," Blaine said, walking out of the kitchen where he'd been waiting the past hour. "Where are you going?"

"Home," Kurt replied simply before settling his hand around the doorknob, ready to leave.

"Wait, please don't go," Blaine practically begged as he took a few steps closer to Kurt. "I was hoping we could talk."

Kurt shook his head, purposefully staying emotionless. After all it was his damn feelings that had got him into this mess. "I have to go home."

"Surely you can wait just a few minutes, please, just so we can talk-"

"I don't want to talk," Kurt hissed, making sure to keep his voice down but not skimping on the anger.

Blaine sighed. Okay, so maybe Kurt did remember all of what happened the night before. And Blaine felt _terrible_, which is one reason why he needed to talk to him right now.

"Kurt, I'm really sorry about last night-" Blaine began but Kurt exhaled loudly in annoyance, cutting him off.

"Really don't wanna talk about it, okay?"

Blaine nodded sadly, deciding it wasn't fair to force Kurt to listen to him.

"Could we maybe get lunch sometime this week? Or coffee?" Blaine asked, hoping they could talk then.

Kurt considered this for about a second before answering. "No."

Blaine waited for an explanation, a lame excuse at least, as to why Kurt couldn't have lunch but the taller boy provided no such thing. Instead he opened the front door and left, ignoring Blaine's feeble call of 'bye.'

Nobody resurfaced for the next hour or so which Blaine was very thankful for. It gave him time to think. Time to work out exactly why Kurt was so angry and how he could fix it. Kurt seemed like such a constant in Blaine's life now and he was not about to lose him, especially over something as trivial as a drunken night.

By early afternoon Blaine had figured out what he'd do. He'd wait, give Kurt some time to cool down then next sleepover he could try talking to him again. All he really needed to get out were the words 'I'm sorry, I'm actually sorta in love with you.' As long as Kurt listened long enough to hear that, Blaine was certain everything would be fine.

On the other hand, Kurt was convinced nothing would ever be fine again. He still couldn't believe what an idiot he'd been. Then again, Blaine hadn't exactly been acting less than friendly.

_Ugh, who does that_? Kurt wondered angrily as he drove home in silence, _Who just leads you on like that when they don't have any real feelings for you? _

Kurt thought back to the night before, cringing as he remembered what a fool he'd made of himself. He had really felt like Blaine might actually make a move…and then he didn't. Never before had Kurt felt so disappointed, but mostly in himself for getting his hopes up.

As soon as he'd gotten home Kurt texted Rachel, apologising for leaving so early but making some excuse about family and prior commitments. Then he'd retreated to his bedroom, laid down and begged himself to forget.

After a few days Kurt had calmed down. He was still upset, he was still annoyed, he was still humiliated but he thought he could face Blaine again.

The next sleepover at Rachel's had been awkward. Kurt stressed the whole way there, wondering how Blaine would act, how _he_ should act. In the end he needn't have worried. Blaine left them alone for most of the night, only offering a smile and a quick hello to Kurt when he walked in the door. It was the morning when things finally got said.

"I'm sorry for how I acted last week," Kurt apologised sincerely as they sat opposite each other in the kitchen. Rachel and Mercedes were still asleep. "I was just embarrassed…" he snuck a look at Blaine, "And hurt."

Blaine shook his head indignantly, finding it hard to believe that _Kurt _was the one apologising when he really hadn't done anything. "No, Kurt, it's fine, I should've been-"

"Blaine, don't even think about apologising, it's not your fault."

_You can't choose who you love_.

"But I didn't get to tell you-"

Kurt sighed, feeling more embarrassed the longer they talked about it. It was just further reminder of his unrequited feelings. "Can we drop it? Please?"

Blaine would've disputed that but Kurt just looked so defeated and his tone of voice was so sad, so Blaine left it.

"Fine. But I am sorry."

"Blaine!"

"Fine. Okay."

From then on things were still a little tense. The flirting had stopped, at least it had from Kurt's point of view. Blaine still teased him occasionally but it never got the response like it used to so eventually Blaine stopped too. They still talked, they were still friends, but that closeness they'd built up, the intimacy, it was just gone.

Then came exams.

As the end of the year drew closer, so did the examinations that came with it and many students found themselves confined to their rooms, chained to their desks with a textbook and notes permanently opened. Kurt, Mercedes and Rachel were three of these students. Sleepovers became less frequent and then they just stopped altogether when the exam fortnight was only a few weeks away. If Kurt hadn't been living and breathing study he would have had time to miss their weekly catch-ups. And Blaine, he would have missed Blaine.

Unsurprisingly, Kurt aced all his exams, getting a near-perfect score in French, Home Economics and AP English. Burt was thrilled and Kurt actually felt proud of himself. He'd worked hard to achieve the results he had gotten and he deserved them.

Unfortunately, a lot of students weren't as happy with their marks. Take Finn for instance. He hadn't failed anything but had gotten low percentages in quite a few subjects. So had a couple of other glee club members and when they had their first meeting back after exams all anyone seemed interested in was complaining; complaining about their results and complaining about school.

Kurt sat back and listened, not really having anything to contribute to the conversation. This year had been great! Glee was going well, they were headed to Nationals, Karofsky had transferred so the bullying had basically become nonexistent and Kurt struggled to remember getting slushied more than once in the past five months.

If it weren't for him still feeling like a total idiot around Blaine, Kurt might've even said things were perfect.

That Friday Rachel invited Kurt and Mercedes over for a sleepover and for the very first time all year one of them had to say no. Mercedes was going to a wedding the next day and her parents wouldn't allow her to stay up 'til all hours of the morning just so she could fall asleep at the reception. Rachel still urged Kurt to come, insisting she would be stuck with her brother if he didn't.

Kurt drove over in GaGa, hating that each time he so much as looked at his car there was a reminder of Blaine and the fact that his feelings weren't returned. It was now over a month since the night of Regionals and Kurt still liked Blaine just as much, if not more so. How that was possible, Kurt had no idea, all he knew was that despite everything that happened, in his eyes, Blaine was still the perfect guy.

The perfect guy for him, that is.

"Good to see you, Kurt," Rachel greeted her best friend with a huge hug as soon as he arrived. "It's been _so long_ since we last caught up. I blame the examinations of course."

Kurt smiled as he hugged Rachel back. "Rach, I saw you today at school and we talked at lunch. But yes, it's been too long since a sleepover!"

They took over the living room, as per usual, and immediately started sorting through musicals to choose which one to watch. Kurt had his eye on 'Moulin Rouge' where as Rachel thought 'Grease' would be a better choice.

"Blaine, would you like to watch a movie with us?" Rachel called, hoping her brother would defuse what could only end in a disagreement. "I'll suffer through Disney?"

Cracking a smile at Rachel's comment, Blaine wished he could say yes. He wished things were back to how they used to be. If only he could sit next to Kurt and happily fall asleep on his shoulder whilst watching 'Mulan' like all those months back.

"No thanks, Rach. I think I'll pass."

Rachel frowned. Blaine never missed Disney; or a chance to be with Kurt. Clearly something was wrong.

She looked over to her best friend to see him looking at the ground sadly. This was the first time Kurt had heard Blaine's voice in a month and it felt like salt in the wound. He thought he was over it, at least over it enough to be able to be here. Maybe he was wrong.

"Exactly what is going on?" Rachel asked, turning to Kurt and eyeing him suspiciously. "I thought things between you two were great?"

It felt like another stab to Kurt's heart, hearing the words that so often plagued his mind. What _had_ happened? Well, that night had happened. But why couldn't they move past it, go back to how things used to be?

Because it hurt too much, Kurt told himself, it hurt too much to know he was alone in his want of something more.

Kurt shook his head at Rachel and shrugged, hoping to downplay all of this. "I don't know, we're not as close anymore. It doesn't matter."

_Except it does, it matters a lot more than I'd like to admit. _

Narrowing her eyes as if to determine whether Kurt was telling the truth or not, Rachel sighed. "Kurt Hummel, don't you lie to me! What happened?"

Kurt sighed. He wanted to tell her, he did. It had been a huge inconvenience not being able to go to his best friend when he felt his heart breaking. Mercedes had been great, telling him he was worth more than that and that Blaine didn't know what he was missing, but Kurt longed for the insanity of Rachel Berry telling him to still go after Blaine. It would mean he wasn't the only one hoping that there was still a happy ending out of this.

"Look, Rachel, as much as I've found your immense interest in your brother's and my relationship weird," Kurt began, smiling slightly at Rachel's indignant expression, "I guess I owe it to you to be honest."

Clasping her hands together and crossing her legs, Rachel gave Kurt her full attention.

"He just doesn't feel the same way about me as I do about him," Kurt began, knowing that once he got started he would find it hard to stop, "And yeah, it was a nice fantasy for a while with flirting and pretending it was going somewhere but I've woken up from that dream, Rach, and I know it's not happening. It's just not. And it hurts, God, it hurts more than I could tell you."

Kurt paused, telling himself he wouldn't cry, not here, not in front of Rachel.

"So we're friends… good friends at best. But it's not the same and I don't think it ever will be."

Looking at her best friend with uncertainty, Rachel reached out to grab Kurt's hand before speaking hesitantly. "Kurt, I think you may be wrong about how he feels about you-"

"Stop telling me that! Stop telling me that he likes me when _I know _he doesn't! You and Mercedes got my hopes up so many times about Blaine and I'm sick of hurting over this!" Kurt sighed, breathing out the sudden anger that had filled him before finishing weakly. "So please…just stop."

Rachel squeezed his hand once before letting it go. "Alright, you win. We'll watch 'Moulin Rouge'."

Kurt smiled at Rachel, glad she understood that he most certainly didn't want to talk about this any longer.

Trying to not breathe too loudly, Blaine stood just around the corner, listening.

Originally he'd felt guilty for eavesdropping but that was before Kurt started speaking and his heart had began convulsing.

He was a terrible person. Why was he allowed to continue walking around after bringing so much unhappiness into such a perfect boy's life? Blaine had never hated himself more than he did right now.

He tip-toed back to his room, wishing he knew how to make his wrongs right.

The rest of the evening had been fun. Kurt and Rachel chatted about things they hadn't spoken about in over a month, enjoying catching up for the first time in ages. A few more movies were watched but they ended up as background noise to the shared gossip and secrets.

Kurt seemed happier. Rachel was so glad to see him smiling after his mini-breakdown earlier. He of all people didn't deserve that and Rachel swore she'd confront Blaine about it the second Kurt left. But for now she was content that Kurt was okay.

Little did Rachel know that Blaine loomed in the back of Kurt's mind all night, making 'being okay' not an option.

The next morning Kurt predictably steered clear of the kitchen and left as soon as Rachel awoke.

"What happened between you and Kurt?" Rachel demanded, flinging the door to Blaine's bedroom open as soon as the front door had shut.

Blaine had anticipated Rachel's actions and had been sitting on his bed just waiting for his sister to barge in. He didn't particularly want to have this conversation but he knew it would be hard to avoid after last night.

"I don't want to talk about it, not with you," Blaine said, turning his back on his sister and hoping she'd just leave him alone. Of course that was never really an option when it came to Rachel Berry, was it?

"You promised me!" Rachel cried, "You promised me you wouldn't break his heart! And there is a boy who has just left our house whose heart is in pieces. So tell me, what did you do? What did you do to make him that way?"

"I didn't even do anything!" Blaine yelled right back at his sister and Rachel took a step back, startled at Blaine's sudden intensity. "I tried to fix it, okay? I tried. Kurt didn't want to hear about it. So I gave him time. I thought that maybe he would get over it and we could be close again, but no, he _still _treats me differently! And don't you think I know he's miserable? Don't you think I hate myself for being the reason for it?"

Rachel stayed silent, not understanding all of what Blaine was saying but understanding enough to know her brother was hurting too.

"Rach, I love him."

Instantly, Rachel's eyes lit up at Blaine's admission and she peered at her brother hesitantly.

"Seriously? Because if you are lying to me, Blaine Anderson, I will never speak to you again, you hear me!"

Blaine chuckled, not mentioning that sometimes that punishment might seem like a blessing. "I love him, okay? I'm sure."

There was only a second of silence before Rachel squealed. "I knew you did! God, you are both _idiots_!"

Chuckling, Blaine accepted the hug Rachel was offering him. It had always been like that with them, fighting to the death one second then in each other's arms the next. It was something he both hated and loved about their relationship.

"Talk to him! Now! Go!" Rachel ordered, pushing Blaine to his feet and ushering him out of his room.

Blaine shook his head, looking at his sister like she was insane. "He's just left here hating me. I don't want to talk to him when he's already upset."

Rachel put her hands on hips and gave him a stern look. Once again she had forgotten she was the younger sibling and didn't have control over Blaine.

"Please, Rachel, just let me wait until next time he comes over. I promise you, then I will be honest with him. We'll figure it all out."

Taking a few moments to consider this, Rachel finally agreed. "Fine. But I'm inviting him over next weekend. That gives you a week to figure out what you're gonna say and Blaine, you better not hurt him again!"

Blaine sighed tiredly. Like he'd ever wanted to hurt Kurt in the first place! "Of course not."

Rachel nodded, pleased with this answer. She walked closer to her brother and sat next to him on his bed. He wound an arm around her waist and brought her close.

"Do you think Kurt loves me back?" Blaine asked, so quiet it was almost inaudible.

Now that he was going over what he'd say in his mind, Blaine's insecurity had kicked in again. What if he said those three little words but Kurt didn't say them back? Kurt had said he _liked _Blaine, he'd never used the word 'love'.

Rachel turned to her brother and smiled. "I know he does."

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><p><strong>AN: Once again I am astounded by the lovely amount of reviews I received. Thank-you for each one, it puts a huge smile on my face!<strong>

**I apologise if the next chapter takes a little longer to be written. I will try my best to have it up in the next half-week but no promises.**

**X**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Here you are, next chapter as promised. I hope you guys enjoy this one :) As always, thank-you for the lovely reviews, they encourage me to write so keep 'em coming :P X**

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><p>Kurt knew it was childish but he declined Rachel's offer of a sleepover for the next weekend. He just couldn't deal with being there and not talking to Blaine. Knowing that he had to get over him, it was too hard.<p>

Rachel was relentless. She was angry that Kurt wouldn't come over, which frankly Kurt thought was ridiculously unfair. Did she know what he was going through? No. Didn't she remember how it felt to experience heartache?

Besides, school was winding up and Christmas was approaching so Kurt told her they could catch up heaps in the holiday fortnight.

It was a week before Christmas when Kurt got the news. He was at home, working on an idea for a design when his phone buzzed. Checking the caller I.D, Kurt answered the phone, happily greeting Carole. Instantly Kurt's breath hitched as he heard Carole's tone. She'd clearly been crying. She told Kurt that Burt had had another heart attack.

Kurt couldn't think. He could barely breathe. It felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest and then stomped on. Fear dominated him and he needed to talk to someone 'cause if he bottled these emotions up he might actually suffocate.

Mercedes was usually who Kurt went to about these things but she was on a date with Sam for their two month anniversary and he was not about to ruin that for her.

Finn would probably accidentally say something about Burt dying and ask if they'd still be step-brothers once he was pushing up daisies.

Tina was a lovely, caring friend but she was away this weekend with Mike's family and Kurt hardly wanted to interrupt their precious sucking face time.

So that left Rachel.

Not that he felt uncomfortable talking to her about this, after all she'd tried her best to help last time this had happened. And sure, she lacked tact and was completely self-absorbed but when it came down to it, she was a good friend. Also she was the only person available who Kurt felt close enough to talk to about this.

Kurt dialed the number he knew by heart with shaky hands, tears still a flowing constant.

Instead of being greeted by Rachel's shrill tone, a warm familiar voice spoke, instantly soothing Kurt a little.

"Hi, Blaine, it's Kurt."

Blaine grinned at the phone, having missed Kurt's voice. "Hi. How are you?"

Kurt sighed. Even a question as simple as that felt too hard to answer.

"Frankly horrible," Kurt replied honestly. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a bitch but is Rachel home?" His voice was shaking, he could hear it himself and would be surprised if Blaine couldn't.

"Uh, no, she's not here right now," Blaine replied, concerned at the sadness he could hear in Kurt's tone. And had he been crying?

A sob then escaped Kurt's throat and Blaine knew something was very wrong.

"Kurt, are you okay?" Blaine asked gingerly.

Kurt sniffed before whimpering, "No."

And that tiny sound broke Blaine's heart. "What happened, Kurt?"

"My Dad had another heart attack."

Blaine tried not to gasp, he really did, but he still inhaled sharply at Kurt's words.

"I'm so sorry." Because really, what else could he say?

"It's okay, not your fault," Kurt said shakily. "I know I shouldn't be this upset, he was okay last time, but what if…what if he's not?" Kurt whispered the last part, almost afraid that if he said it, it would make it true. "And it just brings back everything that happened last year. We d-didn't know if he was - if he…if he would make it." Over a year later and the words were still like gravel against Kurt's throat.

Blaine really had no idea what to say. He wanted to tell Kurt everything was going to be fine, that his father would be fine and that nothing bad would ever happen to him again but of course these weren't promises Blaine could keep. So instead he settled for repeating his earlier words.

"I'm so sorry, Kurt."

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dump all this on you," Kurt apologized, wiping his eyes for the seventeenth time that hour, "I was just gonna ask Rach if she would come over. Carole's at the hospital and as great as Finn is, he's hardly comforting."

"Why don't you come over here?" Blaine suggested, not wanting Kurt to be alone right now and selfishly wanting to see him. This was the first real conversation they'd had in so long that actually meant something and in no way did he want it to end. "Rach'll be home in an hour or so."

Kurt was surprised at the offer, knowing that if he went over he would be in Blaine's presence for a whole hour before Rachel came home. But would that really be that bad? Blaine had always cared about him. He'd always been a good friend and God, Kurt could use one of those right now. So for this reason he accepted the invitation and found himself speeding to get to the Anderberry's, in more of a hurry than he'd ever been.

As soon as Blaine opened the door to reveal a broken boy, he took Kurt into his arms and hugged him tight. It was the first time they'd been this close, both physically and emotionally, since the night of Regionals but it didn't feel awkward in the slightest.

Instantly Blaine heard sobbing and he found himself running fingers through Kurt's hair, trying to soothe him. He knew it was hardly the right time for this thought to occur to him but Kurt was so close and smelt so good and man, what he would do to just bring his lips to Kurt's right now.

But he couldn't.

Kurt needed a friend and that's what he'd be.

After a few minutes of intense hugging Blaine pulled Kurt over to the couch and sat next to him. He held his hand, trying to show Kurt that he was here, he would listen, that he cared.

Kurt just sat in silence for a little while and Blaine didn't attempt any small talk. He knew this was hard on Kurt and didn't want to push him to say anything that could make him feel any worse.

It killed him seeing Kurt like this. He didn't deserve it, nobody did. He just wished he could hold Kurt and hug the sadness away. If this were an option Kurt would still be in his arms.

"Tell me about him," Blaine found himself saying after ten minutes of quiet, "Only if you want to, of course."

Kurt's tearful gaze met Blaine's empathetic one and Kurt tried to tug his lips into a smile.

"I couldn't have asked for a better father," Kurt replied honestly after a few moments. "He's helped me through so, so much." Kurt sniffled. "He's always been supportive. Even when he doesn't quite understand my enthusiasm for something, he'll try."

Kurt surprised both him and Blaine when a chuckle escaped his throat as a memory came to mind.

"I remember there was the new range of Alexander McQueen scarves getting released a few years back and I begged dad to drive me to the store at 5am to line up to get one. He didn't even protest, he saw how much it meant to me and waited in line for three hours to buy a _scarf_."

Kurt chuckled again.

"This is the same guy who has told me more than once that scarves are pointless bits of material that just hang around your neck. But he knew it was important to me, so he made it important to him."

Blaine watched Kurt attentively as he continued to share stories about his father. He didn't know Burt Hummel that well but Blaine decided he sounded like an amazing man.

After a few more memories were told Kurt fell silent. Blaine bit his lip. He wasn't really sure if he was doing a good job of comforting considering Kurt had continued crying whilst talking but Blaine figured he'd be doing that anyway. And he definitely wouldn't have had that smile threatening at his lips as he did so unless it was for the story telling.

Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand, still laced in his, and Kurt lifted his bowed head to look at him with sad eyes.

"I don't know what I'll do if I lose him," Kurt murmured, crying harder than he had been before. Blaine pulled him into another close hug, rubbing soothing circles on his back.

"Don't think about that now," he whispered, holding Kurt tight, "You don't know what's going to happen. He pulled through last time. And he kinda sounds like a superhero from the way you've just described him. Or a superdad at least."

Kurt let out a choked laugh.

"So for that reason alone I think he'll be around for some time."

Kurt pulled Blaine even closer for a second, relying completely on him to just hold him together and get him through this.

This wasn't difficult at all, Kurt realised. He had expected it to be extremely painful spending time with Blaine again, not to mention all the hugs and tender touches that he knew were only directed out of friendship. But none of it seemed to matter anymore.

He had his friend back and that was the important thing.

When they pulled apart Kurt found himself experiencing a slight sense of déjà vu. It felt exactly how it had pulling away from Blaine the first time they'd hugged. After that day, Kurt had decided he never wanted to be anywhere but in Blaine's arms, wrapped up in the boy he loved.

"Thank-you so much for just being here," Kurt said after a few moments. "I appreciate it more than I could ever tell you, especially after everything…" Kurt sighed, wishing he could take back the past month and a half. "I've treated you so badly, you didn't deserve it, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Blaine was finally able to say without Kurt cutting him off. And he was. Sorry that he hadn't told Kurt his feelings sooner; sorry that they'd barely spoken the past month; sorry that Kurt had to deal with his dad being ill this close to Christmas. He was just sorry.

Kurt attempted a sincere smile. "I wanna be close again. I miss it… I miss you.

And if Kurt hadn't already been crying, saying the words he'd wanted to for so long would've made the tears fall.

Blaine felt his heart stutter.

"I miss you too."

_More than you could know._

Rachel arrived home soon afterwards, having only received Blaine's text as she pulled up at their house. Instantly Rachel rushed to Kurt and pulled him into a hug. She didn't say anything but she didn't need to. Kurt clung to her desperately, so glad he was surrounded by friends right now.

They sat and put on 'Sound of Music' but nobody really watched it. This time Blaine stayed with them, holding Kurt's hand the entire time, which Kurt was so thankful for.

"Do you want to stay the night?" Rachel asked a few hours later and Kurt gave her a small smile.

"No thanks, I should really be getting home soon. Carole will begin to worry."

Before leaving, Kurt thanked Rachel and Blaine's dads for letting him come over at such short notice.

"If there's anything you need, you let us know, okay?" Leroy said, smiling at Kurt.

"Absolutely anything," his husband added.

Kurt nodded. "Thank-you."

He then turned to Rachel who held her arms out to pull him into an embrace. A murmur of 'thanks' and 'love you's were exchanged before they broke apart.

Next was Blaine. Kurt was tugged into another hug, totally engulfed by Blaine, not that he minded. He wanted this, he _needed _this.

"Thank-you so much," Kurt whispered, feeling tears reach his eyes again. "I really couldn't have gotten through today without you."

Blaine smiled and squeezed Kurt once before letting go.

"Anytime."

Kurt waved everyone off with one last sad smile before he left.

"I love you," Blaine said to the empty room once he was certain Kurt was gone.

"Well you're getting closer," Rachel teased, crossing the room to join her brother by the door. "Next time you might say it when he's actually in earshot."

Blaine rolled his eyes and kicked his sister lightly. "Shut up. He doesn't need to deal with this right now. He's got more than enough on his plate."

Rachel nodded, understanding for the first time the extent of Blaine's caring for her best friend.

"But soon," Blaine added. "I'm telling him soon."

With this afternoon Blaine and Kurt had gotten their friendship back. It might not have been in the ideal circumstances but still, things seemed fixed. And for that reason Kurt found himself genuinely smiling for the first time today as he drove home.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So I'm sorry if some of you thought the last chapter was too dramatic. Just remember Kurt's still in high school, a self-professed drama queen, Blaine sucks at being romantic - at least he thinks he does - and yeah, Kurt's not treating Blaine nicely but he's hurting. Of course, Blaine's hurting too but Kurt is oblivious to this. Anyway, that's just my attempt at justifying their actions :)<strong>

**To answer someone's question, can't remember who, sorry, but at the moment I am planning an epilogue and haven't decided on a sequel or not but probably not. **

**Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. As always, I am eager to hear your thoughts :) review! X**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: righteo, here we are, the ever-promised chapter ten. I hope you all enjoy this! X**

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><p>It's funny how quickly things went back to how they used to be after that day. Both boys were so relieved to have each other back in their lives and it showed. Blaine called Kurt every second day to make sure he was okay and even went with him to visit his dad in hospital once. When he called on Christmas Eve, Kurt told him the good news.<p>

"Dad's gonna be okay."

Blaine sighed in relief, so glad that something that had been causing Kurt all of this sadness was now over. He wasn't gonna lie, he'd enjoyed comforting the boy and the closeness that had eventuated but it was hardly fair to wish something like that on someone just for the benefit of getting to hold them as they cried. And he really did hate seeing Kurt cry, it felt like everything in the world was broken and totally beyond repair.

"They said he needs to watch what he eats," Kurt told him, absently playing with his fingers as he talked, wishing it was Blaine tracing nonsensical patterns across his palm. "And I think Dad's realising that this is serious. Last time he ate healthily for about six months before falling back into old eating habits. This time Carole and I will _not _let that happen."

Blaine hid a grin at the determination in Kurt's voice. He didn't doubt this. "I don't think Burt will dare fight you both," Blaine said, cradling the phone closer to his ear in the hope that he could feel a bit more like he was actually _with _Kurt, "You can be pretty scary."

Kurt laughed, enjoying the sound that had been absent from his life the past week. "That is true. I'm pretty terrifying."

Despite the fact that Kurt couldn't see him, Blaine nodded emphatically, a grin on his lips. "I've been told."

Kurt spluttered and demanded to know exactly _who_ and _what _he'd been told.

"Oh, just Rachel complaining, you know, the usual," Blaine replied coolly, hoping Kurt didn't really care too much.

"I hate her," Kurt said, shaking his head, "I hate her and I will never speak to her again."

Blaine grinned, knowing this was just Kurt's drama queen showing. "I highly doubt that."

* * *

><p>Since finding out that Burt was going to be okay, Blaine longed for a chance to see Kurt and for things to just be normal. No drama, no fighting, just friendship. And love, if he played his cards right.<p>

He told himself that next time he spent time with the boy, Blaine would tell him how he felt. There was no way he was backing out of it this time.

The opportunity for this arose pretty quickly when Rachel told Blaine about their plans for New Year's.

Last year the New Directions who could make it had crashed at Puck's, drinking and laughing and dancing until mid-morning the next day when everyone was convinced they would surely die of alcohol poisoning or go to sleep and never wake up. However this year Puck's Mum was having her girlfriends over so his place was a no-can-do.

Valiantly, Rachel stepped up, offering her house as the location for this year's New Year's Eve party – once checking with her parents of course.

Everyone was set to come at 7 and minutes beforehand Rachel was scuttling around each room, checking that things were in place. Blaine watched on in amusement, knowing that Rachel shouldn't bother considering most of her friends would be too drunk to admire the tidiness of their house.

"Hey Blaine," Rachel called from the other room where she was rearranging cushions.

"Yeah?"

"I know we don't celebrate Christmas but should I put some mistletoe up?" Rachel asked, walking into the room and flashing a cheeky grin at her brother. "You know, just in case you happen to have a conversation with Kurt near it or something…"

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Har har."

"I just thought it would help you make a move considering you don't intend to _in this century_."

"Rachel, shut up. I'll make a move when I'm ready."

Just at the thought of this, Blaine's heart rate accelerated and with each beat it emphasised the word that hadn't stopped running through his head since he'd woken this morning.

_Tonight_.

_Tonight._

_Tonight._

Blaine had always been a hopeless romantic and a fan of clichés so a New Year's expression of feelings had actually sounded perfect. And although he was nervous, Blaine couldn't wait to tell Kurt. He wanted to tell him everything, how in love with him he was, how beautiful he looked no matter what the situation, how kind-hearted and true to himself he was and just how much Blaine admired him for it.

He'd considered writing a letter but decided that would simply be a waste of paper, knowing he would spend at least four pages trying to describe the colour of Kurt's eyes and the beauty he found in them.

So instead he'd tried to prepare a bit of a speech highlighting just how much Kurt meant to him and how he'd be honoured to call him his boyfriend – _if that's what Kurt wants._

The doorbell rang, wrenching Blaine out of his thoughts and he instantly felt his throat go a little dry.

He could do this.

It was just Kurt.

The one person he felt the most himself around.

The boy he was in love with.

The boy he was in love with who hadn't made it clear if he would say those three little words back.

Blaine gulped. God, he needed a drink. But no, there was _no way _he was consuming _any _alcohol, not after last time. Thankfully Kurt had the same opinion as he greeted Blaine with a hug and instantly turned down the drink Rachel offered him.

"No thanks, I'm staying sober tonight," Kurt said, looking at the alcohol in disgust.

Well at least there'd be no drunken issues this evening.

The hours left of the year disappeared quickly whilst everyone chatted, drank and danced. Blaine kept trying to work up the courage to say what he felt before telling himself he could do it in ten minutes, twenty minutes, half an hour's time.

It didn't take long for Kurt to pull Blaine into the centre of the room to dance with Mercedes and Quinn. It turned out to be very different to the last time they'd danced together. Unfortunately, this time contained less hips on Kurt's part, but Kurt did lace their fingers together and twirl Blaine around in the silliest dance he had ever attempted. It was fun and they both were so ridiculously happy in each other's presence.

Blaine noted how everything felt so easy with Kurt, natural and _right_. He imagined how effortless it would be when – _if – _they got together, exchanging lazy kisses and tender touches whenever they felt like it.

God, did he hope Kurt wanted this future too.

Kurt and Blaine spent the remainder of the year laughing and flirting, chatting about everything and anything like they used to. For the first time since Regionals they were completely back to normal.

Kurt had decided to let go of that night. It was in the past and so what if Blaine didn't share the intense feelings that he had? At least they were close again. And who knows, maybe in the new year something could come of their friendship.

As the minutes dwindled by Blaine became more and more nervous. He knew he wanted his feelings to be known before it hit midnight and that was coming closer and closer by the second. Someone hollered that there were only a few minutes 'til the ball dropped and Blaine took in a deep breath.

It was now or never.

"Kurt, could I talk to you for a sec?" Blaine asked, hoping his tone would inform Kurt that what he was about to say was serious.

Kurt smiled. "Sure."

They walked slightly away from the rest of the group and Blaine took Kurt's hand in his before beginning.

"I don't want you to end this year thinking I don't have feelings for you," Blaine said straight away, not beating around the bush for a second.

Kurt's eyebrows rose but he didn't say anything, sensing that Blaine was nowhere near finished.

"You are so important to me, Kurt, and I don't want to wreck what we have but I have an inkling you might feel the same way I do."

Kurt hid a grin and reminded himself to breathe in and out. If this was heading the way he thought it was, then maybe Blaine did want to be more than friends. Then why hadn't he said it earlier? He'd let Kurt convince himself that his feelings weren't returned, dying a little bit inside and oh, right, Blaine was talking, _I should probably listen._

"- and you're such an amazing person. So strong and passionate about life and I just love that about you."

Blaine began to lightly stroke Kurt's palm as he continued talking, loving the feeling of such a simple gesture but one he hadn't gotten to experience before now. It was one of the many firsts he was looking forward to encountering with Kurt.

"I wasn't joking when I said all those months back that you inspired me to write. You inspire me daily, just by being you. You're amazing, both inside and out. And don't even get me started on your eyes, let alone all of you."

Blaine stopped to look at Kurt, studying his face and memorising his smile, as if realising how incredible he looked all over again.

"You're beautiful, Kurt."

A blush instantly rose on Kurt's cheeks and he couldn't hide his smile.

And then Blaine remembered he was on a time limit and began to ramble.

"I know I should've told you all of this sooner but I didn't want to when you were drunk and then there was that whole misunderstanding and you refused to listen and then we just didn't talk anymore and I thought you hated me and I hate _myself _for that and then everything with your Dad happened and I am so glad he's okay but I didn't want to tell you how I felt when you were fearing for his life."

Blaine paused and took a deep breath as everyone began yelling the countdown.

_10, 9, 8_

He needed to get this out, and quickly. "And there were just all these stupid misunderstandings and inconveniences that have gotten in the way -"

_7, 6, 5_

"- and I am so sorry for everything that went down between us, that was months of time with you I wasted -"

_4, 3, 2_

"- and I just wish I could've told you how I felt sooner."

They locked eyes and Kurt shook his head, silencing Blaine. Kurt grinned and Blaine smiled right back.

They were both so in love.

Feeling happier than he had in some time, Kurt felt his heart rate increasing rapidly, both at everything Blaine had just said and because of the way he was looking, no – gazing, at Kurt.

And just when Kurt thought this New Year's couldn't get any better, Blaine's lips became awfully close to his own.

_1 – "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"_

And then Kurt was closing the distance between them and their lips were touching and everything felt magical. Fireworks were heard in the distance but Kurt was convinced they were due to this kiss, not the coming of the New Year. Blaine was quick to deepen the kiss and it was only 7.8 seconds into 2012 but Kurt was completely certain that this was the best year thus far.

It was midnight and Blaine hadn't said those three little words yet but he couldn't bring himself to care right now because Kurt was kissing him, _really _kissing him and how did he stand being around Kurt before without doing _this_?

A cat-call from Puck is what finally brought Kurt back to reality. He pulled away cautiously, breathing heavily and looking at Blaine with a blissful smile.

Blaine leant in to catch Kurt's lips again, only to be gently pushed away. Worry instantly built inside him. Surely he hadn't screwed this up again! Maybe he'd been reading the signs wrong and Kurt wasn't actually interested in him.

Kurt groaned. "Ugh, don't look at me like that, I wanna kiss you, I do, just, can we talk first?"

Blaine didn't understand why they needed to talk when they could be kissing but he nodded anyway, a small, hesitant smile on his lips.

Kurt took Blaine's hands in his again and squeezed them.

"I just want to make sure that we're both going into this one-hundred-percent."

Hazel met glasz and Blaine tried hard to listen intently and not drown in Kurt's gorgeous gaze.

"I need to know that this isn't just a New Year's kiss, that you actually want a relationship out of this, because I know I do."

Blaine's heart leapt at the fact they both shared this want.

This was it, he was going to say it, but maybe he should let Kurt finish first.

"No more miscommunications. We tell each other everything, okay? Because so much beauty sleep was lost last time we fought and -"

Blaine couldn't wait any longer and he found himself cutting off Kurt's worries with the three words he'd been struggling to say before.

"I love you," Blaine stated, looking at Kurt as if he were the meaning to life.

Kurt felt his breath catch at the words he'd been dying to hear but not allowing himself to hope for. But surely he'd misheard, Blaine couldn't have said he _loved _him, could he?

"Try miscommunicating that," Blaine joked after Kurt hadn't said anything for a few moments. He tried to not stress over the silence and hoped that Kurt was just shocked and simply preparing himself to repeat the words.

Blaine wasn't far off. Kurt was utterly dazed, completely taken over by what the shorter boy had just said.

Blaine loved him.

Blaine loved _him_.

Even after the way Kurt had ignored him and pulled away from him last month. Yes, that was fixed now but Blaine was looking at Kurt like he was literally perfect and Kurt knew that was far from the truth.

He wanted to apologise a hundred times over for the way he'd treated Blaine but in all honesty all he felt like saying right now were the words that tumbled out of his mouth in a flurry of nervousness and excitement.

"I love you too, Blaine, ugh, why are we such idiots?" Kurt sighed as his head fell into his hands. Blaine held back a chuckle and reached up to remove what was blocking his vision of beautiful glasz. It was hardly fair for anything to get in the way of him gazing into those gorgeous eyes.

Blaine smiled at Kurt as he took in the new knowledge: Kurt loved him back. He could hear distant shouts for more alcohol and Rachel's loud complaints about how Finn had missed their New Year's kiss but it all just sounded like white noise because _Kurt loved him_. And absolutely nothing mattered except for that.

Kurt was still wondering how they could be so stupid as he held Blaine's hands in his and squeezed. "Seriously, what's wrong with us? We could've been together this whole time! So many dates, so many kisses missed out on."

Blaine grinned and pulled Kurt closer, ghosting over his lips as he responded. "Well we'll have to make up for lost time, yes?"

With the happiest smile Kurt was certain had ever graced his face, he nodded and Blaine leaned in, but just before his lips touched Kurt's he murmured, "Oh, and happy New Year, Kurt." But Kurt barely noticed because then they were kissing again and everything felt right.

_Happy New Year, _Kurt thought as he wrapped his arms around his_ boyfriend_ – God, did it feel good to finally say that – and continued kissing eagerly, _Happy New Year indeed._

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><p><strong>AN: So. KLAINE! I know this might not have been the way you all wanted them to get together and I know I forced you guys to wait for ages but I hope it was worth it and that it lived up to your expectations! I've had so much fun writing this fic, seriously, it's been a blast! Thank-you all for every single review, story alert, author alert or favourite story. I love you all and am so thankful you've stuck with this until the end. There will be an epilogue after this (no promises for how quickly I get it written though) but then that's it. I probably won't write a sequel at present. But anyway thank-you all for every little bit of support you've given me! I appreciate it so much!<strong>

**I expect lots of reviews because I gave you Klaine :P but seriously, I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter so review away :)**

**Again, thank-you all so much. **

**Much love**

**X**


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